Eyepatch Fox
by kyleoo145
Summary: At a young age naruto is shown the attention that he had been missing out on. With a different childhood that involves Naruto developing his powers sooner, he will set out to change the world for the better. With the help of the Kyubi and some special gifts he heads out, making friends and fighting for what he believes in.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 1

"Tsudom Kinton, it's good to see you again. Its been a few years hasn't it. So how has my blind friend been?" welcomed Orochimaru. Before him stood a short, stocky man. He wore a black tee-shirt with a large red star on the chest. Over his shirt was an unbuttoned black trench coat that displayed the red star proudly. He wore black cargo pants with red lining and black sandals. Atop his head, his hair was cut in a standard military shave fashion with sideburns of similar length coming down the sides of his face and connecting with a well trimmed beard on his chin. Other than the red star that addorned his shirt the only thing that shoot out about this black clad man were his pupiless white eyes.

"Orochimaru-sama." Kinton return.

"Ahh, formal as ever Kinton-san. Anyways I am in need of your special abilities. As you recall, when I was run out of Konoha I was forced to leave behind years of research. Much of the results had already been transferred to other bases outside of Fire, but unfortunately not all my… personal items had been removed. As such I was forced to leave behind many valuable personal effects, some of which I am going to be in need of in the near future. The problem I have run into is that the laboratory I was discovered in had my inventory lists in it. I was forced to activate the explosive tags in that laboratory to cover my escape. Anyways, it has come to my attention that some of the items I left in my many other laboratories in Konoha are going to be of use in the future. As such, I am in need of your special infiltration methods." Orochimaru relayed.

"What are these items that you require me to obtain?" Kinton asked cautiously, one can never be to careful of this snake.

"I'm glad you are interested. There are in fact a dozen or so items that I will require you to retrieve. All the items are listed with their descriptions here in this scroll. Also here is a map of Konoha, along with its underground tunnels." Orochimaru said as he handed Kinton two small scrolls. "Also, as your payment, anything you find that isn't on that list is fair game. I'm sure you'll find plenty to compensate yourself with. Now, I'm sorry, but I have things to do and must leave you now. I'm sorry I don't have time to catch up right now. So this is goodbye Kinton-san." And with that Orochimaru turned on his heel and stalked off, but before he disappeared, he threw some last parting words over his shoulder. "It will probably take awhile to find all of the listed items, just bring them here as you acquire them."

Kinton just stood there, stiff as a statue until Orochimaru was gone. When he could no longer sense the snake man he drooped his shoulders and let out a sigh. 'Man, he is sooo creepy! Why do I even consider him a friend?' As he was contemplating this Kinton Shunshined to the entrance of the bunker him and Orochimaru had been meeting in. In a flash of black he was off on his way to Konoha.

**_Three days later, Konoha Front Gates, October 10th, Morning_**

Kinton had just spotted the great gates of Konoha in appear on the horizon. He jumped down from the trees and found a small clearing off the main road. After making sure no one was around, Kinton took off his trench coat and tee-shirt. From one of the thigh pockets of his pants, he drew a slip of paper with a seal on it. In a single swift motion, he slapped the piece of paper onto the center of his chest. Slowly he felt his chakra being drained until there was a fraction of what there normally was. Also, he felt his hair start growing until it was shoulder length. Reaching back, he tied his now longer hair back into a ponytail. Throwing his shirt and coat into his pack, he drew out a green tee shirt and white vest. After checking himself over he went back out to the main road and began walking to the gates in the distance.

The guards at the gate of Konoha were having a hard time controlling all the traffic coming into Konoha. With the festivity going on today, many people from local towns and cities would come and visit for what many consider one of the greatest parties in the entire Fire Nation. As far as size goes, it was comparable to New Years, but the intensity of the celebration was on a new level. The drinking and shopping and games would start in the morning and continue on late into the night. For local businesses this was one of then most important days of the year. As such the tourists there for the festival were very important in order to bring in as much money into the village as possible. As, with most of the ninja population joining in on the festivities, finding enough people to participate on guard duty was exceedingly difficult.

All of these factors led to no one paying any attention to Kinton as he mearly told the guard that stopped him he was here to visit family and enjoy the festivities. The Chunin, after sensing a miniscule chakra signature from the man didn't even look twice, just waving him by and brought up the next person.

Hitting the crowded streets, Kinton was impressed by the amount of people and stands set up. It wasn't even noon yet and there were already drunks roaming the with the crowds. While impressed with the size of the event, Kinton couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted with the fact that this was also the day that one of this villages leaders died protecting the village, and yet the security was so relaxed that this would be a perfect opportunity for an enemy to strike. 'I wonder what the Yondaime would think if his village was destroyed because they were celebrating his sacrifice? He would probably be so pissed at the third and kick his ass in the after life.' Smirking to himself Kinton decided to take the day off and enjoy the festivities. Its not everyday you have an opportunity to just relax. So Kinton spent the rest of the day trying the food, playing games, listening to music, and joining in on one of the many dances. The one thing he didn't do was drink. He had seen enough of the effects of alcohol in his life to know it wasn't worth it.

After the sun went down and the moon began rising into the sky, Kinton joined a large mob in a park to watch the firework show. In front of the large mass of people, on a raised stand, the man who was in charge of the firework display still up and addressed the crowd, "I would like to thank you all for coming out and celebrate this important day in our villages history. Before we begin we would like to take a moment to remember our great leader, The Yondaime Hokage, who sacrificed his own life to protect our village from the demon, Kyubi no Kitsune. After our display tonight we are going to be starting a new game in honor of the Yondaime's sacrifice. Its called Fox Hunt and we will be finishing what the fourth started." The man smirked as he watched the eyes of many enthusiastic citizens and shinobi who knew exactly what he was getting at, though the tourists looked clueless. 'No matter there will be more than enough people, and when words spreads of our new game, those numbers will only get bigger. That shit stain is going to feel it tonight when we avenge all those that he killed!' With this thought the man's smirk grew to a maniac's grin that made Kinton suspicious of what this "game" was.

Before he could come to any reasonable conclusion the fireworks began splashing the sky with a multitude of colors and shapes. Some fizzed and others boomed, some were yellow and yet some sprayed out rainbows, but one thing that they all had in common was how they all accentuated the beauty of the starry night sky. Children's' mouths were wide in awe, couples hugged each other under the soft glow, and everything seemed happy and peaceful.

After a full fifteen minutes of continuous firework extravaganza and a dazzling finally, the all the faces in the crowd were plastered with smiles. Slowly the tourist and children began drift back to there beds after a long night. Some adults left too, but man knew that the nightly fun was only beginning. They knew that tonight would be the night that they would begin extracting their revenge on the damned fox that took so much from the village when it attacked exactly three years ago.

What first alerted Kinton that something was up, was as he was pushing through the crowd to find a place to stay, killer intent and bloodlust began oozing off of those that were obviously staying. 'Da heck. Am I missing something or is there an attack? Does this have something to do with that Fox Hunt game? I think I stay and find out what's up. If I'm going to be in town for a while to get that stuff for Orochimaru I should have an understanding for what up in this village.' As Kinton made his decision, he turned around in time to see that man from earlier taking to his stand again.

Looking around and seeing that most of those that were leaving were already gone, the firework man began addressing the crowd. "Tonight as I said, we are going to start a new late night game called Fox Hunt. We will get our revenge on that fox for all he did to us, our family and friends. We will show it hell and finish what the Yondaime started!" With every sentence Kinton could feel the rage in those around him building and the killer intent and bloodlust flowing off everyone in a hundred. His curiosity only grew as the firework man jumped off his stand and began leading the mob of civilians and shinobi through the streets. Getting near the front as they advanced through the streets under the leadership of the firework man, one person behind him began chanting, and within seconds, every other person in the mob had joined in on the battle cry of "Death to the demon." They began pumping their fists in the air and there bloodlust only grew bigger as more and more people began joining the mob, making it numbers swell far beyond what they had started with at the park. And then the man came to a stop in front of a modest two story building. The mob began surrounding it, civilians filled the streets and allies, shinobi took to the roofs, and the chanting grew in intensity.

Studying the building, Kinton was thrown off by the fact that this building was an orphanage. 'Why are we all at an orphanage?' As if to answer his mental question, the door slammed open and an old, gray haired lady came out dragging a young blond boy dressed in rags. And that's when Kinton was surprised yet again, he didn't think these people could get any louder or make there hate any more apparent, but when this boy, no older than four came into view they chanting and bloodlust was turned up, not one, but three more notches. The hate was suffocating and the cries for this apparent demon was deafening. Squinting his eyes, Kinton was intrigued at what would happen next and that's when a new emotion mixed in with the multitude of others and being at the front of the ring, Kinton could see where it was coming from. The boy.

Naruto had not been having a good day. Today was his birthday and the day of a big festival. He liked to think in his mind that the festive was in honor of his birthday. But when he got up in the morning we was in for a rude surprise. The old care taker lady who had always hated him for some reason and encouraged, even rewarding, the other kids for being mean to him. And this morning when he got up from his bed and opened the door to the room he was forced to live in under the stairs, he was apprehended by the care taker lady. She proceeded to yell at him and call him names. After venting her own feeling on him, she tied him to the railing post at the bottom of the stairs and told the other children that they had to hurt him before they could have breakfast. Even adding that those that made him cry would get second helpings. After a full hour of being teased and beaten by his fellow children, Naruto was left on the post as the others went and ate breakfast. When they were done, the old care taker lady had the children take a second round at hurting Naruto, with the promise of letting them going **ON THEIR OWN** to the festival. This got them going and enthusiastic about such a reward. So after another hour, Naruto was alone, still tied to that damned post.

To his credit, he did try and escape his bonds, but that proved futile as he had only just turned three that day and considering how malnourished he was, it wasn't surprising that he couldn't summon the strength to break himself free. This ritual of him being beat by the other kids followed at both lunch and dinner. And yet after both of these meals and the rest of the kids had gone to bed, he was still left tied to that post. By the time the mob showed up Naruto had fallen unconscious, but was promptly shaken awake my the old hag. After giving him her own little whacking, which included the use of the wooden cane she used to walk. After this she untied him and dragged him out into the street in front of the orphanage.

Naruto's eyes when wide and the amount of fear he was feeling skyrocketed when he felt such immense hate being directed at him. The dropped him in front of a man that was at the center of the semi-circle. With a parting kick in the back, the lady turned and retreated back into the orphanage.

Then the firework man began to speak again. "Today Kyubi we are going to pay you back for everything that you did to us! You will suffer just like we all did. Prepare to enter hell Kyubi, that were demons like you belong!" Turning, he began addressing the crowd, "Let out your hate and anger! Here is what has caused our suffering and misfortune! Let us show him who he was messing with. Make it slow and painful!" And with that the man was received with a cry of agreement. Turning back to the shivering boy Kinton was watched, shocked, as the man began wailing on the small child. After five minutes, the firework man picked the boy up by his hair and threw him into the street.

After a few seconds a group of five men came out and surrounded the boy. They took their turn hurting him before returning to the circle. Groups began rotating in and out of the mob. Kinton just watched with blank eyes. On the inside of his head, his mind was swirling. In one corner he was figuring out why he was being called the Kyubi, in another he was watching his own experiences with bullies as a kid, not on this level of course, but still. And yet still a third section was trying to decide what he wanted to do. As the seventh group was leaving the circle, life returned to Kinton's eyes.

He reached under his shirt and pulled off the seal from his chest. His chakra spiked, but this went unnoticed, as did his appearance change. The crowd was just to focused on watching the little boy get beaten within an inch of his life. In a burst of speed Kinton picked up the boys and before anyone could react, he shunshined back to the park he had watch the firework display from. The people of the mob looked shock. Here, a person, who had seemed to be a civilian had saved the fox boy. How dare him save the demon from his righteous beating!

Especially furious was the firework man. He had been given the job of killing the boy by the civilian counsel and had been promised a large reward for his efforts, but now, now his target had disappeared. Turning from spot the boy had been moments ago, he addressed the crowd once again. "We have but just begun. Lert us search every corner and alley of this village to finish what we have started! We will not be stopped from fulfilling the will of the Yondaime!" The crowd roared in responds and shot off in all direction without coordination. The firework man smirked to himself as he ran off with one of the many groups. He was confident in getting his reward, there was no way the demon could escape. But on the spire of a nearby building two red eyes had been watching the whole procession with interest.

With his Sharingan active, Itachi was able to follow the trail of the shunshin. Turning to the park, Itachi slid his bloody blade back into hits sheath on his back before shunshining after the man that had take Naruto.

**Two Hours before the firework display, Hokage tower**

Itachi, with his ANBU weasel mask, entered the Hokages office. Looking up the Third was surprised to see Itachi, but welcomed him by his ANBU name not the less. "Hello, Weasel, what can I do for you?" Hiruzen asked, he was in an irritable mood. He had missed the entire festival because he had a mountain of paperwork. He was the Hokage for Pete's sake and yet he is to busy to attend his own village's festival. Looking down, Itachi activated his sharingan. After a moment of silence he looked up and into the elder Sarutobi's eye. The third's eyes widened for a moment, but it was already to late, he slumped back into his chair unconscious.

Waving his hand four ANBU came out of the walls and looked at Itachi. After a moment they dropped the genjustu on their masks, revealing the Kanji for ROOT on their foreheads. They all followed Itachi out the window and into the night. They leapt from rooftop to rooftop in the direction of the Uchiha district.

Happily holding his mom's hand, Sasuke was bouncing up and down as him and his mom walked back to the Uchiha complex after having gone to the park to watch the fireworks. Normally, the Uchiha have their own celebration inside the complex though the enthusiasm that the rest of the village feels for the festival isn't there for the Uchiha. Partially because the they had never liked the Yondaime and partially because the general suspicion is that the Uchiha had something to do with the Kyubi attack in the first place. Because of this, even though they are an important part of the village shinobi force, they had slowly lost the trust of many other shinobi.

Even so, Sasuke had wanted to watch the fireworks and his mom couldn't resist his cute, constant requests. But now, as they approached the entrance to the Uchiha complex, Sasuke's mother felt something was off. She first noticed that all the lights were off. Shadows cast by the moon left a spooky atmosphere, and then, her highly attuned nose caught a whiff of... Blood. Holding Sasuke closer to herself, she leaned over and whispered into his ear, "Sasuke, stay close to mommy and be as quiet as possible, ok?"

Sensing something was wrong with his mom, Sasuke nodded his head and latched onto his mother's arm. Even in this tense situation, she couldn't stop herself from smile at how cute he looked. But that smile instantly dropped, activating her sharingon, she could see lost of residue chakra in the air around the complex.

Taking small cautious steps, they began advancing slowly down the main street. Intent on going to their house, they took the first right, but froze the moment they turned the corner. Thrown against he walls of the buildings on either side of the street were they fellow clansmen. Sasuke felt his body pulled away from the sight. His mother, turning him around could see the confusion in his eyes. But she knew better than that, she recognized the people strewn about before her and she knew what was going on.

The plans at coup had been instigated by her husband and while she was not a strong supporter of starting a civil war, she understood the grievances of her fellow clansmen and had done nothing to oppose the planning. As of this week their were only two wild cards remaining in their hand, Itachi and Shisui. Both had show strong disapproval towards the coup, but while Shisui had grudgedly agreed to support his clan, Itachi, her own son had shown no such support.

As she examined the bodies of her clan, she noticed that they were divided up, the civilians on the right, and he shinobi on the left. She didn't want to know why, but when she spotted the blood flowing from eyes all those on the shinobi side she felt her stomach turn. They had been relieved of their families most valuable possession, their eyes. With that she started backing away with Sasuke's little body held in her arms. Once she was on the Main Street again, she turned and began running for the entrance, but sopped cold when she felt a presence behind her. Quickly snapping her head around, she saw, at the end of the other end of the main road, an ANBU with a weasel mask. At this moment her heart froze as she recognized her son holding a blade covered in blood. His shoes were covered in red and his shirt was dripping. She knew she was string at her clan's executioner and felt fear rack her body, but his next motion confused her. He lifted his arm and flick his wrist at her. She just stare on confused until she realized that he was shooing her away from blood and gore he had spilt.

Returning a small smile, she turned her head and began running at full speed to the HokageTower on the other side of the village.

Itachi let out a sigh of relief as he watched his mom and little brother escape the carnage that he had created. Turning, he jumped onto the nearest building and made his way to where the ROOT ANBU were storing and sealing the sharingan eye that they had take from the clans man.

As he landed amongst the scrolls and beaker filled with eyes he noticed that there were only three of the original four ROOT members left. This didn't bode well for him, he was determined to keep the sharingans out of the hands of Danzo and his goons. "Where's rhino?" He quickly asked.

"He has taken the first complete scroll already, we should have the rest ready in a few minutes."

Cursing in his head for letting that madman get a hold of so many sharingan, Itachi raised the blade he still held in his hand, and before any of the ROOT could react slew them. Picking up the other completed scroll, he ran through a simple fire jutsu and unleashed a torrent of flames on the remaining scrolls and jars of eyes. As much as he hated to destroy the treasured eyes of his clan, he didn't want Madra acquiring anymore than he could. And just as the flames before him died down, he felt a new presence appear behind him out of the blue. Turning, be was able to catch the last of the black spiraling swirl that announced the arrival of his "master."

"Have you retrieved all the eyes?" Madra spoke in a hushed tone.

"Unfortunately, when it became clear what my intentions were, the ROOT destroyed all they could. Instead of dozens of scrolls I have but one to give you. Also one of Danzo rats made off his a filled scroll also." Itachi said as he handed over the scroll he had kept intact.

Frowning on the inside of his orange swirl mask, Madra took the offered scroll, "this will do I guess. And what of Shisui, what has become of him and his eyes?"

"Unfortunately, by the time I found him, Danzo had already gotten to him. Shisui told me that Danzo had only managed to get his left eye, whole he himself destroyed his other to prevent Danzo acquiring both. I'm sorry, Danzo played his cards very well."

At this Madra's frown only deepened. He had wanted to acquire Shisui's eye, they were very powerful, but now with them out of reach it was disappointing. 'I will have to adjust my plans to compensate for this failure. At least Itachi acquired one scroll, it will be most useful.' "Very well, I will see you at the appointed place and we will begin the next chapter in my plans." And with that he disappeared in a black whirlpool out of his right eye.

Now alone again, Itachi finally dropped him emotionless mask and broke down. While he may not have like many of his Clansmen for there arrogance and hateful ways, that had still been family and he had mercilessly slaughtered them. After a few minutes his weeping silenced and the sobs came loss often. When we finally stopped he calmed himself and steeled his nerves. There was one past thing he needed to do. He needed to fulfill his last promise to his best friend Shisui and accomplish his final wish. Give Shisui's right eye to someone worth of it. Steeling his nerves Itachi jumped of onto the night, towards a certain orphanage.

**_Firework park, After Kinton's escape with Naruto_**

Kinton appeared in the park in a swirls of grass. Quickly checking that their was no one around him, Kinton placed the boy under a tree and produced from his own back pocket the map of laboratories Orochimaru had given him. Quickly scouring the scroll with his hand, he found that the nearest safe haven was a few streets over. Replacing the scroll in his back pocket, he threw the boy over his shoulder and took off, sprinting across the park, luckily in the direction away from the orphanage. Just as he reached the boundary of the park and jumped onto the cobble street, he felt a chakra presence approaching the park. Quickly clanking down the cobble street, Kinton made his way to the sewer drain that the scroll instructed him to go to. But as he ran he could hear another pair of feet following him. Sending chakra into his legs, he sped up and attempted to lose his pursuer before he reached the manhole. But this was to no avail, little did he realize that when he began using chakra, it just became a lot easier for his persist to follow him. But slowly the sound of running feet faded. Turning right one last time, he found the manhole and threw it off. Jumping down into the black abyss, he slid the cap back into place and began navigating the dark underground complex still at full speed.

When Itachi's sharingan picked up the residue of the man he was pursuing, he slowed down to allow the man to think he was getting away. Before he would go through with his plan for Shisui's eye, he would need to find out this man's intentions. He wouldn't allow him to use Naruto.

Continuing his chase at a slower pace, he weaves in and out of the streets and alleys following the trail of chakra.

The trail came to an end right above a manhole. Bending down, Itachi quickly scanned the street he was on. Finding the coast to be clear, Itachi drew up the manhole and slipped down into the underground. Drawing the cap back up, he covered the hole back up. Here, Itachi drew a blank. His target had still been using chakra to increase his speed, but it was pitch black, and the only reason Itachi was able to see was because of his sharingon. For the guy to be able to navigate these tunnels at full speed he would have to have an intimate knowledge of these tunnels or had some sort of ability that allowed him to also see in the dark. In either case, as the pursuer, Itachi knew he was at a disadvantage. Turning around and focusing on the chakra trail left behind, he wearily made his way after it. Making sure to look out for possible traps or ambushes, Itachi walked after his target.

As he went deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, Itachi's brain was trying to figure out who would possibly take Naruto, and for what purpose. 'If it is Danzo, he timed his move perfectly. To acquire a large amount of sharingan and a jinchuriki in one night that is quite impressive. And to acquire one while staving off a civil war and the other at a young, impressionable age, that's a good night for any leader. But then it could also be another village trying to acquire a jinchuiki, its not like its hard to figure out, even with the Third's law regarding Naruto, the villagers don't exactly suppress their hate or name calling and if you combine that with his birthday or heritage you can easily figure it out. But he did wait until he was being beaten, is it possible that is was just somebody doing something nice? Hmmm…' AS he though Itachi came to realize that there were to many factors and that it was best to take a cautious approach to deal with this man, whatever his intentions.

Turning right Itachi found the chakra seemed to walk right into a wall a little bit down the current corridor. As he approached it, he began examining the wall. Because he had his sharingan active he knew it wasn't a genjutsu. He gave it a little push, but the wall didn't budge. Backing up and looking at his situation, Itachi decided to do one of the most ridiculous things possible. Walking back up to the spot here the chakra disappeared, Itachi brought his right hand up and… knocked on what he assumed was a door, three times. Putting his hand back down and backing up, Itachi crossed his arms on his chest and waited patiently.

After placing the proper seal key on the door, Kinton too back, as the designated spot opened in on itself. Walking into the room, the first thing that happened was the smell of rotting flesh attacked his nostrils. After the door closed behind him, Kinton began clucking his tongue in five second intervals. Navigating over to one of three examination tables in the laboratory, be plopped the boy down on the nearest one. Doing a quick examination of the boy, Kinton was startled to find that for the most part all the boys injuries had already heal and not only that, they seemed to do so naturally. Pulling a kunai from under his vest, Kinton made a small insertion on the boys fore arm. He was taken aback as within seconds on the injure being inflicted to sealed itself back up and was left with perfect. Taking the kunai again and this time made a cut from the boys wrist all the way up to his elbow, it was also much deeper than the last one. Kinton took a step back and watched as blood flowed from the wound. The boy also stirred for a second, but didn't regain consciousness. After about a minute the cut was about half way closed up. After another, it, like the first was left perfect again.

Pleasantly surprised at this boys abilities, he found himself disgusted yet again that the crowd had taken advantage of this knowledge to allow them a much longer beating. Running his hand through his short black hair. Deciding to let the boy sleep in peace, he pulled his black trench coat out of his pack of rapped the boy up in it to keep him warm in the damp room. Letting out a sigh while turning to examine the room he had entered, he couldn't help but notice the simplicity. It was a simple rectangle. Stretching across the center, were the three stone examination tables. Looking to the ceiling, hung a single light bulb with a string hanging down next to it. Deciding to leave it, as to not disturb the boy, Kinton turned again and saw on the far side of the room, were five seemingly occupied cells. As he approached the cells, he found each contained a rotting body. As he stood right next to them, Kinton was forced to cover his sensitive nose to avoid throwing up from the revolting stench.

_TAP, TAP, TAP._

Spinning around he felt his heart jump as he heard the knocking coming from the door. He even accidentally let go of his nose, but quickly plugged it again after getting one sniff of the bodies behind him. 'What the heck, how was I followed? Are these labs compromised? Damn, did Orochimaru set me up? Lets see, I don't really have any choice but to answer. If I don't They can just wait me out. Hopefully they aren't to strong.'

As Kinton approached the door, be pulled the key seal in his right hand and a kunai in the other. Slapping the seal on the door, his body tensed as he prepared for whatever was on the other side. Before the door was all the way open Kinton found himself pinned to the wall so quickly that he didn't have a chance to react.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

Such a simple question and yet Kinton was lost for words, but then he felt a tinge of fear run down his spine as he picked something up. This man had a sharingan. 'Dang, I can't lye to him. Oh well maybe he won't kill me.' "My name is Tsudom Kinton."

'Tsudom? Ah, that explains how he navigated these tunnels, sound is a lot easier to use when there is no light.' "Well Tsudom-san what might you be doing down here and with this boy none the less?" Itachi asked.

"I was trying to save the boy from from that mob. I figured they would search for him, so I came to try and escape."

"Hmmm… well you aren't lying, but why would a foreigner help some child, that is obviously hated by the entire village?"

"He reminded me of my childhood. While I wasn't hated by my village, I was bullied for being different. I don't like it when other are hurt for no reason."

Seeing only truth in his words, Itachi dropped Kinton and proceeded to walk over and examine Naruto. Seeing he was healing fine, like always. He turned back to Kinton, " I don't have much time to talk. I am giving to job. You are to watch after and protect him. Do what you can for him and if you have to leave the village take him with you. If you fail, I will make sure to find you and end you life in the most unpleasant and slow manner possible. Do you understand me?"

Kinton just stared at the man before him. 'Why is he trusting me to this?' He was about to ask,but reconsidered when he felt the seriousness rolling off the man. Taking a deep breath, he made a promise that would change the direction of his life. "Very well."

Smirking under his mask, Itachi couldn't help but feel satisfied, but now came the difficult part. " I need you to turn stand in the hallway while I do something. Open the door, when I knock." Itachi ordered.

To Kinton, the authority was obvious in the man's voice, but he couldn't help but feel suspicious. He had just promised to protect and raise the boy, but was now being asked to leave him in the room alone with this man? But, again he felt the seriousness coming of him and complied. When the door shut behind him he sat back and waited nervously.

Back inside the room, Itachi was hovering over Naruto's unconscious body. Reaching into his right pants pocket, he pulled out a single, small scroll. Unraveling it until there were but two seals revealed, he pushed the necessary amount of chakra into the first seal. In a cloud of smoke, a clear jar filled with water and a single sharingan eye appeared. Taking a deep breath, he turned back to Naruto and slowly opened up his eye lid and began the procedure.

_TAP, TAP, TAP._

It had bee a full five minutes since the man had left Kinton out in the hall. Once the knocking came, he was ready. Slapping the key seal onto the door yet again, he stood back while the door open to show the man he had left with the boy. Before Kinton could do anything, the man handed him four scrolls and began talking quickly, "These first three are for him when turns eight. They can only be opened my him. Also, when he turns eye, the patch on his eye will come off. This last scroll is some basic instructions for you, to properly take care of the boy and make sure he can look after himself. I will be checking in on him periodically so you better keep an eye on him. Oh and here, you are going to want to draw all the money from these accounts in first thing in the morning. Make sure to use one of those disguises you used earlier, and then never use it again. The money will help you look after the boy. Goodbye and good luck." And with that Itachi shunshined into the forest outside Konoha.

Kinton stood there with his mouth gaping. As his head processed the info it had just taken in, he suddenly felt very old. He no longer felt like the man in his late twenties that was just earlier today enjoying a festival without much of a worry in the world, but now, now he had a little kid he had to watch and new responsibilities, along with his job given to him by Orochimaru. Unlike earlier, now he really felt like having a drink.

Trudging back into the room, the door shut behind him. Kinton looked over at boy and decided that he had the right idea. Pulling out a scroll, he unseal a second trench coat, this one identical to the fist and pulled it over his shoulders. Sliding onto the center examination table he promptly fell asleep.

**_When Naruto falls unconscious after the second group comes out to beat him, his mindscape_**

_Drip, Drip, Drip._

Opening his eyes, Naruto found that his eyes were just showing one big blur . Blinking them into focus, he found himself staring at the ceiling of a hallway. On the ceiling, were two pipes. One that looked to be only a few inches wide and was giving off a blue aura. The other was a full two feet wide and gave off a red aura. Along the sides of the walls were a series of lights.

As Naruto tried to stand, he found that he couldn't actually more, or even feel any part of his body. Sighing, he figured it must be because of the beating he had just gotten from the crowd. After waiting a full ten minutes, he finally gain feeling in his fingers, but groaned when he felt water and realized he must be soaked. After what felt like forever he was finally able to stand. After working out the kinks in his back and neck, Naruto began wandering aimlessly, until he came to a huge room, easily a hundred feet tall. Before him was a massive gate on the center of which was a small piece of paper with some kanji on it. Having never learned to read, Naruto had to just go without that skill.

As he about to leave the room and continue exploring, a loud voice boomed from behind the gate. "**Hello kit**."

The voice came with the usual venom that came when he was addressed by everyone. Instinctively, he ducked down and covered his before squealing," I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to do anything wrong. Please don't hurt me."

Behind the gate the Kyubi was confused. He could hear the obvious fear in the boys voice, but it didn't seem to be direct at him, more at the world in general. Deciding to establish a connection with the boy, to see what was going through the kids head, he gave out his instructions, "**Kit, come over here and touch that piece of paper. On the gate. You are going to feel a tug, don't worry.**"

Visibly shaking at the powerful voice, Naruto approached the gate. As he did, the paper descended from the center of the gate to right in front of him. Slowly reaching out, he placed his right hand palm down of the paper. Feeling the pull he had been told about, he didn't move, but felt himself getting a little tired. Them suddenly to changed and Naruto could feel his hand burning as what seemed to him to be like energy was forced back into his hand, but it left a burning sensation. He tried to pull his hand off, the paper, but it was stuck to it. Letting out a little cry he fell backward onto his butt. The water splashed him and wetted his clothes again, but he ignored it, and instead felt his burnt hand to his chest.

The fox watched on with a smirk on his face at the brats misfortune as he began shifting threw the boys past. '**Serves him right. Hmmm, what is this. Their beating him? Hurting him? Causing him pain? Hate him? He wasn't some spoiled brat?**' now the Kyubi was confused. He had expected this boy to be some scared little spoiled brat. Considering Konoha's greatest enemy was sealed inside of him it only made sense that the boy was treated well, but this, this is despicable. Hurting a boy who can hardly walk. The Kyubi had expected the boy to be arrogant and make demands of him and yet instead he was shown a timid broken child that had never been shown love in his life. Even the memories of the Third Hokage showed that he was remaining slightly distant to the boy and obviously wasn't keeping tabs of him and his life. Also, he was shown to be malnourished and abused. It was all some sickening. The Kyubi may be a demon, but this treatment was low and he felt pity for the boy and decided to comfort him. "**Come here kit."**

Naruto looked up from his place. This time the voice had so much warmer and sounded kind. Slowly standing, Naruto walked between the gate bars and made his way into the dark. Out of the black came a red tail that rapped him up. At first Naruto was going on first instinct and tried to get away, but then he felt how… how soft it felt. There seemed to be an unnatural warms coming from it that was soothing. He stopped resisting and leaned into it. Letting out of sigh, Naruto felt himself being picked up, but just held onto the soft red tail as he was pulled into the pitch black. He couldn't help but feel his fear return and for a moment he contemplated trying to run for to, but when he felt himself lying on a soft surface with the fuzzy tail over him, that disappeared and relaxed his muscle.

The Kyubi smiled a fox grin at the cute sight before him. Whispering to the boy, "**My name is Kurama. Sleep now kit. We will talk later.**" The Kyubi felt a slight nod come from the boy. After a few minutes he could feel the boy drift off to sleep. Still smiling, Kurama curled up without disturbing his guest and went to sleep himself.

A/N- This is the first story I have put up. I read a lot of other srories and decided to give it a try for myself. I am going to focus more on Naruto in later chapters, but I needed to set the stage. I'm going to do a time skip with summary to cover what happens in the missed time. If you are wondering, Kinton's abilities are like those of Daredevil. Any help in appreciated. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- I was originally going to do a time skip, but I decided that I needed to develope the relationship betweeen Naruto and Kurama. Also I needed to show Kinton properly. Enjoy

Chapter 2

The day, Kinton woke up feeling much better than the night before, after his uninterrupted rest. Waking up to darkness, he instinctively began softly clicking his tongue to get a picture of the room. Getting up, he stretched out his arms and legs until his muscles felt satisfied. He may have slept well, but he was going to need to get some blankets to soften those stone slabs. His back was killing him.

Deciding to get a start on the day, he took out a seal from one of his back pockets. Lifting up his shirt, he slapped it right on his chest and felt his chakra being bottled up. When he arrived on the streets of Konoha, all people saw was an middle-aged with gray hair hanging to the base of his neck. It covered his ears and on top was blown of to the right side of his head. His normal white eyes now had green irises and black pupils. He was about six feet tall in the same attire he had worn yesterday and on his way to the only bank in Konoha.

The reason for only having one bank was to allow for the counsel to keep a tighter grip on the flow of money and access to it should the need arise. As he entered, he felt a little nervous when he noticed a plaque right upon entering stating that 'Chakra use of any kind is restricted and highly monitored to ensure the safety of all your possessions.' It was still fairly early in the morning when he took his place in the short line so he only had to wait a few minutes before being called up to the available counter. When he got up to hit he was addressed by a rather bland looking girl with black eyes and brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, "What can I help you with today sir?"

"I would like to withdraw all my money from these accounts." Kinton said as he handed a card over to the lady. The lady took a quick look at the accounts and the withdrawal codes. Instantly recognizing that this was a shinobi account, and clan no less, she quickly scurried into the back. But that only last for about a minute until she returned empty handed. Feeling a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck, Kinton silently waited for the woman to speak, and when she did so scream inside his head. She said," There is quite a lot sir. It will be out in a moment. If you wouldn't mind waiting over to the side, we will have it out in a second."

After thanking the women, he walked over to the spot she designated and waited with a calm exterior., but on the inside he was questioning the wisdom of waiting. 'I mean, there can't be that much stuff can there? Was that guy just pulling my leg?' Clutching his head he muttered something about it being to early to be thinking. Deciding to throw his brain out for the moment, he leaned against a wall and just continued his waiting. After another ten minutes five men came, each with a large chest about four feet long and three feet high. Each had a latch on the sides to allow for quicker transportation.

Upon see these burly men come towards him he scowled. How was he supposed to take those with his? Sighing, Kinton turned his brain back on and entered a dramatic thinking pose. With his hand on chin and eyes gazing off into the distance that was there it hit him. Slapping his forehead, a smile graced his feature. Reaching into a pocket on the bottom part of his parts, he pulled out a small scroll. Opening it up, he released the first seal he came to and a much larger scroll popped into existence. 'Scrolls within scrolls, you gotta love it.' Lying down the much bigger, he ran out across the floor to reveal five large sealing arrays. Without saying a word the five big men sat down the chest on each respective seal. They knew what they were doing, but did so silently, they didn't like to associate with ninja. In the banking business that was just like asking to get robbed. And so without a word all five men turned around and walked back into the recesses of the bank. Shrugging of their treatment of him Kinton sealed away each respective chest before rolling the scroll back up. Throwing the sash over his shoulder he strolled out of the back and turned to head back to his new sewer home.

When he got back, he was surprised to find that the kid had yet to rise from the depths of his mind and return to the land of the living. Tossing that thought aside, he pulled the scroll from off his and gave it a toss while holding onto the end. It flew threw the air and revealed the five seals. Going to each one and unsealing the chest within, he spent the next hour hauling them around. They ended up being a lot heavier that he had expected. Being the physically weak person he was, to was a huge pain in the butt to push each chest to the side of the room. But that wasn't the end of his sweaty struggle, was he quickly noticed that he had positioned each of the damned things backwards, making opening them impossible unless he when through the labor of turning them all around. Again, a huge pain in the butt.

When he finally finished, be plopped said butt down on one of said chest and took out the instruction scroll the man had given him. Upon opening it and scanning its contents he tossed it off into the corner of the room in frustration 'Why in the world would he expect me to do all that for the little runt. I'll keep him alive and show him how to get around and that's it. Who the hell does he think he is telling me to the boy. If he wanted him trained so bad and at such a young age, he should have done it himself.'

Letting out a small growl, he picked the scroll back up and finished scanning through it. At the very end were to small storage seals. Taking out there content, he was meet by two four pronged keys. Looking between the chests and the keys he quickly made the connection. Again, tossing the scroll into the corner, he went to work opening the chests, only to be frustrated yet again by the fact that each key seemed to fit into a specific chest hole sixteen different was and of course it was the last chest he tried that yielded results. At this point he was honestly questioning, listening to the man he had been talking to last night. 'I mean sure he's strong and all, but I doubt he would have the time to come after me if I don't listen to him. I guess I just do the bare minimum before getting out of here. I could probably do it with quite a bit of money it a stake out a few big class targets. I'm sure that bank has something there. Add that to what ever that Uchiha left for this kid and my pay for Orochimaru and I should be set for the next few years.'

Grinning to himself, Kinton opened the pair of chests and was overjoyed with his findings. One was completely piled high with cash. What could be better for what he now intended to do. And looking into the other chest he was just as happy. In it was a full set of ninja gear. It had everything one would need for a ninja and in one huge set also. That could go for big money. Complete with a mini arsenal and sealing kit, it was perfect for anyone who would possibly need it. Grinning to himself, Kinton grabbed three wads of bills, slapped on a new disguise, and headed out to get some lunch.

Out in the village, the sun was high in the sky and there was slight breeze It was a beautiful autumn day and Kinton was walking amongst the crowds with a smile on his face. Entering the first establishment he could find, he found himself in a quaint dango shop. Taking a seat up at one of the bar, Kinton ordered himself a half dozen sticks. While waiting he started drumming his fingers on the counter while listening the conversation around. For the most part it was insignificant and went in one ear and out the other, but then a certain conversation caught his ear through all the noise and confusion of the busy lunch restaurant. As he soaked in the news of the man, he couldn't help but smile to himself. It seemed there was now a little bounty on the boy. When this was all done he could turn the boy in and make a little extra cash to bolster his funds. As he was imagining himself in a hammock in front of a large beach house, he jumped when his food was dropped on the counter in front of him. Dragging himself off the floor and back into his seat, Kinton sent a glare at the bartender, who was now scrubbing sake dishes. The man just smiled at his accomplishment, but decided to try and resolve the situation, even if he didn't care. "Sorry about that, you wee kinda staring off there. Just thought I'd bring you back. So what are you doing here in town, I don't recognize ya?"

"Oh I was just in town the festivities. I enjoyed it quite a bit and was very satisfied that it lived up to its reputation as one of the best times around." Kinton lied to the man.

"Ya, it actually had the day off yesterday to enjoy the festival myself. It was quite satisfying, especially the late night activities." The man returned with a mischievous grin on his face.

Taking a quick glance around, Kinton returned a sly smile to the man, "Oh I'm sure they were. I personally didn't feel up to any such activity after spending so much time to get here and then the actual party itself. Though I'm sure there was plenty that happened last night."

"Ya, that massacre really shook me up this morning, but ya know them ninja live that kinda life so its not like they weren't askin for it." the bar tender explained as he moved onto the next dish.

Lifting up a stick of dango, Kinton was curious what this man was talking about and spoke his mind, "Massacre, what massacre are you talking about?"

Looking up, the man looked over his customer quizzically. 'He had been here all day and hadn't heard yet? Oh well might as well inform the information less.' "Why the Uchiha massacre. Apparently there are only three of them left. One, was this protégé of theirs named Itachi. He was supposedly really good at all that ninja stuff and for some reason killed off like, his entire clan late last night. The only two to survive were his mom and little brother. They were apparently at the park watching the fireworks and when they got back everyone was dead. It seems that he was pretty brutal with his clan too. A lot of them his their eyes stabbed out or something. Apparently they tried to catch him, but he had left in quite a hurry. Hopefully he will stay away, if he comes back I know I wouldn't feel safe. A man who can kill off that much of his family can't be to stable." The man informed Kinton. While on the outside Kinton had been listening quietly nodding his head and eating his dango, on the inside he was running in circles cheering. Everything seemed to be going his was. It was obvious to him that this Itachi was the man he had talked to yesterday. There was no way he was going to come back to the village just to check on the boy. Itachi had just given his the means to become rich and he didn't seem to think that Kinton would possible try and take advantage of his situation. 'And who the heck wouldn't. Its like having the winning lottery ticket and not turning it in because you were to busy saving a cat from a tree.'

"That's a shame for the village. Weren't they the police people though?" Kinton replied calculatedly. There was no use drawing attention to himself when he had already been set. He wasn't going to risk anything.

The bartender just let out a huff, "They didn't actually do much. Stop a drunk ninja every once in awhile, but other than that they were just for show. They liked to think highly of themselves and the position of police allowed them to walk around looking important without actually doing anything." The man said with a note of disgust hanging in the air.

Patting his stomach, Kinton stood up and paid for his meal. Walking out of the restaurant, he felt light and free. Tossing up his arms, he let out a shout of joy. Ignoring the looks being sent in his direction, me set off to set up his new temporary home. He had some furniture to get and body to dispose of. Jumping off in the direction of his little sewer home, he couldn't help but allow his face to grow a huge idiotic grin.

Naruto's eyes fluttered as his eyes were met with a the sounds of moving furniture. Blinking to adjust to the light be hadn't seen in a while. Sitting up, he felt his body was sore all over. While stretching his arms, he let out a yawn, but stop the moment he realized he wasn't in the hospital. He remembered that he was getting quite the thrashing last time he had been up, and normally after such a thing he would arise in the morning the old man third. Glancing around the room. He caught sight of a man in all black, with red here and there, setting up two chairs at either end of a small table. Blinking twice, to make sure he really was awake, Naruto wasn't sure what he should be feeling right now.

Last he had checked he was about to die, but here he wakes up to someone setting up a room. 'What the heck is going on and who is this guy?' opening his mouth to speak to the man, he tried to form words but found his mouth and throat to parched to do so and what came out was a odd gargling noise that was more associated his a landlocked fish than a human being. But it didn't seem to matter as the it got the man's attention, who turned around and looked at him with a hint of surprise in his eyes. "Hello there boy. You were asleep a nice long while. Here." As if knowing exactly what he was in need of, the man walked over with a tray of rice and beef along with a cup of water.

Naruto just stared in surprise. This man was giving him food, actual food. No one fed him. The old witch at the orphanage had given him scraps and crumbs. Eagerly grabbing the plate, Naruto began shoveling the food down his throat. Between desperate breaths of air and chewing, water was reintroduced with his mouth.

Kinton was surprised by the boys aggressiveness in eating, but considering how it seemed he was treated, it wasn't a surprise, he probably hadn't ever had a true full meal. This made Kinton feel a little bad that he was going to be using this boy, but he had already broken through those emotions over the last day. He wasn't going to grow a soft spot for this boy, he was worth too much and he wasn't going to fail his new get rich quick scheme because of something like pity. So as the boy finished off the plate of food and cup of water, Kinton started up the inevitable conversation, this would be so much easier if the boy trusted him he reasoned, "Now, what is your name little boy?"

"Naruto sir." He responded.

"Now Naruto, I'm going to be taking care of you for awhile. I'm currently here in Konoha for a long job. My name is Kinton. During this time I will be looking after you and helping prepare you for when I have to leave, ok?" Kinton asked.

Naruto just nodded his head. He decided to be weary of this man, he had met other before that were nice to him, and they had all betrayed his trust. It wasn't easy to get this little fellows trust anymore as he had become quite suspicious of the world at his young age. It was quite unfortunate really, but he wasn't going to let someone into his head until they had truly earned.

"Well then, this is where you will be staying, since you were attacked, you have been asleep for two days, so you are going to need to eat some more. Also we are going to need to help you body so that you can grow some. You are a little scrawny." Kinton spoke as he dished Naruto up some more food from the table. " After that I will be helping you so that you won't need to worry about all those villagers when I have to leave, so eat up." And Naruto did just that. Three servings later, Naruto was finally feeling full. Kinton noted that the boy was pretty quiet, but chalked it up to how he was raised.

"I'm going to be gone a lot of the time, as I have work to do. I'll be back later for dinner. Find something to do while I'm away." Kinton said as he scurried out of the room to begin searching for Orochimaru's property. While he was walking off, Naruto was taking in his new "home" as the man called one corner was the door that Kinton had just walked out of. He sat of the nearest of three padded tables. Opposite the door were five cages, each of which had a chest in it. On the far side of the room was the table and chairs. It wasn't much, but it was more than Naruto had ever had in a place to call home, emphasis on the "call" part. He had never actually felt at home anywhere, but he still hoped that someday he would find such a place. Sighing, he looked back at the cages and something clicked in the back of his head. "Kurama!" He shouted.

'**Yes kit?**' the voice came, but as much as Naruto looked in this small room, he couldn't find where it was coming from.

"Where are you?" Naruto spoke out.

'**HAHA, I'm inside your head kit. Would you like to come and talk to me?**' Kurama asked.

"Yes please," Naruto answered. Almost instantly his vision went black and he fell forward off of his backshift bed.

When Naruto opened his eyes, he found himself looking up at the same pipes he had remembered seeing. 'So that time was just a dream?'

"**No it most certainly wasn't. Come here kit.**" Kurama's voice boomed through the passage way from some far off chamber.

Standing up, Naruto followed the direction of the voice until he came to the same room that he remembered from his "dream." Walking up the gate, he peered into the blackness that effectively shut off Kurama from his view. "Can you come here so I can see you?" Naruto asked innocently.

"**Of course.**" Kurama replied and complied immediately. When his body became visible in all its glory, Naruto almost had a heart attack at the tender old age of three. Standing before him was a hug fox who's head almost reached the ceiling. Nine bright orange tails swung behind him and two slitted red eyes stared down at him. "**Hello there, my name is Kurama.**"

Naruto just stood there, mouth agape. He couldn't understand. 'This fox is nicer to me than anyone in the village? An I really the a fox demon that they all claim me to be?'

"** Of course you aren't**," Kurama replied, startling Naruto who could have sworn he had thought those words, not said them out loud. "** of course you did say those in your head, but we are in your mind right now. Last time you were here you touched the seal and exchanged chakra with me. It allows us to communicate when you are awake, as such I can hear you thought kit. And to answer you question, you are no demon, I am the demon that has caused you so much pain in your short life, and for that I'm sorry, but I didn't do anything on purpose. I am the Kyubi no Kitsune.**" Kurama declared.

Naruto, who's mouth was still wide open, continued staring at the entity before him that had just… apologized? A demon had apologized to him? But this was the Kyubi, it was supposed to have been killed by the fourth. "I heard that you were killed by the Yondaime." Naruto stated but was met by harsh laughter from the giant fox, who couldn't help but smile at the boy.

Lying down to get more comfortable for the upcoming talk, Kurama began the story, "** Well of course not, I am the Kyubi, most powerful of the nine demon lord. No mere mortal could have killed me. I was simply seal into a newborn to stop my mad rampage, and before you ask, I was forced to attack Konoha. Anyway, I was created centuries ago. I have more knowledge that all the intellectuals in this world combined. I am more powerful that any of you mortals out there. I have roamed the earth for as long as there have been shinobi and still few have ever had the power to compare to my brother, sisters and I-**"

"That sounds pretty lonely." Naruto interrupted. Kurama was shocked that of all the connections the boy had made that was it. He had recognized the loneliness of his position. There were no other fox demons out there in this world, well there were now. Letting out a sigh, Kurama acknowledged Naruto's observation, "** Yes it has been very lonely for the past couple hundred years, especially when you are being hunted like an animal. It's been awhile since I have actually talked with anyone. Both my previous containers ignored my. The only times I've been let out was to be controlled and forced to fight for other. I never liked being forced to do stuff I didn't want to do.**"

Naruto couldn't help but feel sad for Kurama. He too knew what if felt like to be an outcast, to be hunted for merely existing. And when the Kyubi no Kitsune put his head down and sighed in defeat, Naruto ran. But he didn't run away, like he had been forced to do some many times before, no, he ran up to Kurama and hugged his huge nose. The moister from Kurama's warm breath and his wet nose made Naruto feel slightly uncomfortable, but that didn't matter. He had found someone how understood what he had been through. Kurama was sad so Naruto did the one thing he had always wished someone found do for him, show that they care, show they were worried, show that he existed in the world and that they acknowledged him.

Meanwhile Kurama was taken bake and touched by the boy. Through all that had been done to him, this boy was still a person his feels and right now this boy was the one comforting him, the Kyubi. Inside his head Kurama let out a sad chuckle. On the outside, he weaved a tail around the boy and pulled him back a little before licking him on the side of the head, eliciting a giggle from the blond. Lifting him up, he sat Naruto down on top of his head before speaking in a soft voice, "** Thank you kit that was very kind a you, you know how I feel and the fact that he care is touching.**"

"Its ok, like you said I know what you feel, but I couldn't image having to deal with it as long as you have." Naruto replied in a sad voice. They sad there in silence for a bit before Naruto broke the silence Kurama was enjoying so much, not so much for the silence part, but because he was reveling in the fact that he was no longer alone. "What does that piece of paper say, on the gate?" Naruto questioned.

"**It says seal. It is the seal that keeps me inside of you. Speaking of which would you like me to teach you how to read and write?"** Kurama asked sincerely. Kurama figured that no one was going to teach, even that Kinton guy, he figure he might as well teach him.

"Really! That would be so cool, no one has ever taught me anything before!" Naruto shouted in glee.

**"I would love to teach you, but first I need you to do something. I need you to change this cage. A forest would be preferable.**" Kurama stated, but them mentally smacked himself. When he felt the confusion coming from the blond. He realized that he had to actually explain how to do it first, and so he began, "**Ok, this is your mind, it's all in your head. Therefore you can change it. Now as much as I love living here in the SEWER, I would appreciate a better place to spend my time, so like I said a forest would be nice. Now to change it, it shouldn't be anything more than closing your eyes and focusing on your surroundings. Image being surrounded by a big forest. Give it a try."** Kurama said. He didn't expect Naruto to get it for a few tries, but couldn't help but hope. He hated to have to lye in sewer water all the time.

Naruto listened closely to Kurama's instructions and shut his eyes tightly. After conjuring up an image of a forest in his mind he focused on it as hard as he could. He wanted to please Kurama and learn to read and write.

While Naruto was focusing, Kurama was watching the world around him changing slowly over the course of ten minutes, the small cage had become a endless grassy plane with a white sky. In the distance, a lake popped into existence, along with a large house. This was promptly blocked from few as trees began rising into the sky. They grew so bi it made him he small, which is a feeling that was completely foreign. Kurama had always been bigger than everything and while he wasn't sure how much he liked that changing, he had to admit that the boy was doing a fine job, though it was taking quite a bit of time.

After about another hour, Naruto finally opened his eyes. He had crafted his mind as best he could and was hoping Kurama would be pleased. "I'm done Kurama. How'd I do?" Naruto asked, silently hoping that he would receive words of praise.

When Kurama did speak, Naruto was not disappointed. "**You did an excellent job kit. Now lets have a look around.**" Standing up quickly, Kurama bound off towards the house he had seen earlier. Naruto let out an little "Eeep" was they shot off. He had to grab onto Kurama's fur to avoid falling off of his head. He felt so happy to be able to stretch his body and have plenty of area to move about. After five minutes of traveling, they reached a large clearing that sat next to the lake and house.

Coming to a stop, Kurama flopped over onto his back and proceeded to roll around in the soft grass. It had been decades since he had had this pleasure, Meanwhile Naruto was becoming quite dizzy. After the third roll, his grip was finally lost. Plummeting the short distance to the ground, Naruto tried to stand up but found that he couldn't seem to, as his vision was spinning. He fell flat onto his back and just stayed there. Soon Kurama joined his after his childish excitement had run its course.

"**So kit are you ready to start learning?"** Kurama asked, to which he received an enthusiastic cry from the blond whiskered boy. Chuckling , Kurama had Naruto conjure up some huge pieces of paper and so the lesson began.

The next two weeks, Naruto spent for the most part, in Kurama's forest. The only times he was in the real world was to eat his fill and talk with Kinton a little. He didn't do that much though, Kurama said there was something strange about his, so he should be careful. Over those two week Naruto's reading was improving greatly, but his writing was lagging a little behind. All in all though he was much more advanced that most three year olds, but that was only because of Naruto's persistent nature. He wouldn't stop until he had accomplished what he was out to do. Kurama was quite pleased with rapid progress. When they weren't doing the whole teacher student thing, Kurama would tell Naruto stories about him man and his brothers and sisters. Naruto was fascinated with these stories and had asked Kurama if he would teach him how to use this chakra, to which Kurama had told him that he had to wait until his body was healthy. This confused Naruto as he didn't understand what he mean that he needed to be healthy. After that Kurama had to go into a big long lecture about the HUMAN body and all the different part, how different food did different thing for one and so on. Naruto was completely overwhelmed by how complicated the body was. He had struggled to understand as much as he could. After that lecture Kurama was made to promise to teach Naruto more about the HUMAN body, and so that had been added to the curriculum, along with basic math.

Over those two weeks Kurama having more fun that he had had in years. The amount of attention he was getting, even if it was just teaching Naruto made him feel very good about himself. He also loved it when Naruto would beg him to tell a story. He thought it was so cute, and it make Kurama feel good to know that someone cared abut him and his past. Overall, he was already planning what to teach the boy once he was fit to start learning about the shinobi arts. It made him feel all giddy inside to have his own student that respected him and his knowledge. Most humans would cower in fear or ignore him, but here, he now had a container that acknowledged him and for that he was thankful.

Meanwhile Kinton was worried about Naruto, he seemed to spend way to much time sleeping. He figured it was time to get him out of the house so to speak. Over the past two weeks, we had only been able to find one item for Orochimaru. He was stunned to find out just how big some of the laboratories were. He had at first just gone to all fifty-four of them to make sure they were all still hidden. After that he had begun on the closest to the "house." It had been about the same size and he had been able to shift through all the content quickly. But the next one had been huge. He was still looking through it. After the first day he had successfully found the first of the twelve items. I made his drop his shoulders in despair when he realized just how long this was going to take. Over than that he had been enjoying Konoha quite a bit. The large reservoir of cash had made his life quite comfortable when he wasn't working. He could afford to eat good food every meal and had begun researching what high value items there were he could steal in order to make even more money. He had come up with a few interesting prospects, but as of yet, he hadn't come by enough information for anything to be safe to go after. But he could wait, he had all the time in the world right now. For now, he had to get Naruto out of the "house." With his body full recovered from its former poor treatment, he felt it was time to begin teaching Naruto his specialty stealth and infiltration. And so at dinner that night Kinton informed Naruto, "So Naruto, tonight I'm going to take you out and we are going to start you training."

Naruto looked up from stuffing his face with a blank looked on his face, but then that was replaced by a monster grin and a tremendous "Yahoo!" Kinton just smirked and just knew he had been right, the kid just needed to let off his pent up energy. But he was curious to find out if the boy would be able to focus that energy and on something that required silence and absolute concentration. Well he figure that he would find out soon and returned to eating his food.

With Naruto, he was talking about how excited he was with Kurama, 'I wonder what I'm going to start learn. You think it will be chakra and ninjutsu?'

"**I doubt it kit, he doesn't strike me was a battle specialist, but we'll see. Now that he is starting his training of you, I believe tomorrow I will begin working with you as well."** Kurama stated.

Naruto mentally screamed in excitement, much to Kurama's annoyance. Unfortunately, Kurama had made it very clear that no one could know about them being able to communicate with each other. Something about scaring people even more and rumors that would only put him in danger. Naruto had accepted without hesitation. He knew Kurama wasn't very well liked and respected his wishes. It was just kinda hard to always keep his reactions inside his head.

When they finished eating, Naruto followed Kinton to the door, and upon its opening, took his first steps outside in two weeks. As they walked down the corridors, Kinton began rambling about what they were going to do. Naruto didn't like that Kinton was trying to explain things in a really simple way, its not like he wouldn't be able to figure them out. But he just stayed quiet at Kinton babied him.

When they did reach their destination, Kinton climbed up the ladder first and removed the manhole. After he disappeared into the outside world, Naruto followed him up into the night. When he appeared, Kinton replaced the cap and began pacing off. Naruto followed with a little difficulty. Because of his height advantage, Kinton's walk easily outpaced Naruto's, who had to take three steps for everyone Kinton took. Pacing himself with a light jog, Naruto found himself tiring quite quickly and realized that sitting around with absolutely no physically activity for two weeks had really hit him. He was going to have to work himself into shape and now was as good a time as any.

After five minutes of walking through the dark quiet streets, they came to some woods. Kinton just ploughed ahead while Naruto followed in his wake. Naruto was enjoying himself. Usually when he went outside he had to worry about all the adults around coming after him, but he was allowed to enjoy himself. The crisp late autumn air felt good in his lungs and the breeze flowed through his blond hair. He felt happy to be outside in nature on such a beautiful night.

Bursting through the last few bushes, Kinton and Naruto arrived in a large clearing. Walking to the center of it, Kinton turned and addressed Naruto, "Ok, so, I promised that I would help train you in a few things to help you stay safe after my job here is done." 'But not to much, don't want you to be able to escape me.' Smirked Kinton.

Meanwhile Naruto was consulting with Kurama about the implications of training with his man. 'Should I listen to him Kurama?'

"**Yes, I will be good for you to start getting out more. Though like I said, be wary of him. I don't like that smirk he's giving off. I believe he has secondary intentions, but we will worry about that later." **Kurama informed Naruto.

Naruto nodded his head and began listening intently as Kinton began to explain his training, " For your training, I'm going to teach you about three major subjects, stealth, infiltration, and trapping. Now before you groan, let me tell you that these are some of the most important skills a shinobi can have. I you are good enough in these three areas, it doesn't matter how powerful your enemy in, they will fall before you."

Inside Naruto's head the Kyubi was smirking. '**This will prove immensely beneficial. He is right, these skills are completely overlooked and yet so significant.' "Listen up, and put your full efforts into this. He speaks the truth and his training will prove essential to you."** Kurama told Naruto who immediately increased his focus to knew height as he listened to Kinton rant and brag about everything he had accomplished thanks to his specialized skill. Finally, he began to instruct Naruto on the first subject, Stealth. And with the words of advise "You must find in plain sigh" Kinton began his instruction.

By the time they had returned to their underground lair, Naruto was both frustrated and awed. Kinton had been right, and after the first fifty times Naruto had 'died' because Kinton snuck up behind him, Naruto had developed an immense respect for the man. Kurama couldn't be more pleased with Naruto's new instructor and though he still didn't trust him, Kurama saw lots of promise in what he could teach Naruto. Upon returning, Naruto had plopped down on his bed, and gone to begin his night learning from Kurama.

Looking over him, Kinton wasn't sure what to think of the boy. He was so quiet, and yet paid complete attention throughout the lesson. Also, the boy proved to be naturally talented. He himself was worried about what this boy could become if he did teach him. 'The boy could easily become more powerful than me. I will have to limit his training and only add these three subjects. I have to make sure he can't sure his chakra or else I doubt I will be able to beat him.' Letting out a sigh, Kinton got into his own bed. He just wasn't the fighter type and was incredibly weak it came to such things. Drifting off to sleep, Kinton had no idea that this boy already had another teacher how would be filling the gaps that Kinton had hoped to leave.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**_Five years later, Konoha streets, October 9th, Afternoon_**

It was a bright afternoon in Konoha and the streets of the shinobi village were crowded. People were out minding their own business, whether that meant mean buying groceries, going to work, or just enjoying the nice day, it seemed everything was so peaceful. But alas it was not to stay that way.

Out of an alley came Naruto sprinting full speed. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit that clashed dangerously with his sun blond hair and deep blue eyes. He wore a pair of green goggles over his eyes, one of which was covered by a pitch black eye patch. As he rounded the corner he began making his way through the crowd at his same speed. As Naruto weaved through the mass of people occupying the streets, all any of the civilians saw was a flash of orange. For the most part, people just shrugged him off, he had been doing this for years now and after the first few months it became quite clear that you had to he quite the shinobi to catch him.

These runs out in public were part of his training, assigned to him by Kurama. At first it hw had to simply run around the village as fast as he could for as long as he could, but when Kurama finally taught him about chakra, Naruto began pumping it into his legs in order to increase his speed and, over time chakra reserves. At first Naruto had worn a disguise to keep anyone from recognizing him. It took him a full year to work up the ability to sprint around the village all day long, but his godly stamina and huge reserves eventually grew to the point where this was possible. At this point Kurama had infused evasive skills into his training by making Naruto, without his disguise and in a attention attracting outfit, have to run through the most crowded streets in Konoha at full speed, while not running into anyone. For the first few months this had not gone so well as Naruto didn't have the necessary agility to avoid people in the streets, and when he would crash, he would often be quickly recognized and attacked. This led to many more beating, but proved to be a great motivator for Naruto to improve, which he eventually did. And yet to further increase speed and muscle build, Kurama had him place a resistance seal on himself.

Adding to the difficulty of this training, once the Sandaime found out that this runner was Naruto, he tasked the ANBU with catching the boy and bringing him back to the third, who was worried as to why Naruto had disappeared after his third birthday. As of yet, the ANBU had yet to catch him. This was partially due to the head of ANBU, putting the mission priority at the bottom of the list of assigned duties. By the time the elder Sarutobi forces the head of ANBU to place a team on the mission, Naruto has developed his evasive skills to a level, where he can escape them. After months of failure, this mission was changed into more of a training mission for ANBU had needed to build their stamina. Also, it became a punishment for a squad that acts out of orders or fails a mission know as 'Brat Duty.'

And so, as Naruto dodged his way through the crowd, a squad of heaving ANBU came out of an alley in pursuit, and though obviously winded, they kept going. This was the only mission in ANBU, where showing weakness in from of others was allowed, otherwise most would have to give up after the first few hours.

But upon seeing the crowded street, the ANBU squad took to the rooftops to avoid having to deal with the crowds. But they were steadily losing ground to the energetic blond.

Quickly glancing over his shoulder, Naruto caught sight of the squad on the roofs to his left. Making a quick move, he burst down an alley to the right, before quickly going through an intricate maze of alleys before finally slipping into the sewers. The ANBU squad was right behind him, but upon turning the next corner were met with nothing but an empty street. Sighing in defeat… again, then turned back to report their failure and then go right to bed.

Meanwhile underneath their feet, said blond boy was making his way home. While discussing important plans with Kurama.

"**Kit today is the day. You've been putting it off for long enough. You have to deal with that bastard Kinton today. You now as well as I do, now that he has finished his mission for the snake, he will finish off you and turn your head in for the bounty."**

'I know Otosan. I just, don't want to kill anyone. And even if he does have poor intentions, he has still be better than everyone else.'

**"Kit, I'm sorry, but you have to kill him. When we get back he will probably be sleeping like he usually. Just make it quick, he won't feel a thing, no suffering, no pain, no nothing." 'I hate having to make him do this, but he is going to have to toughen up. He is almost eight, and now that we have finished the new seal, it is the perfect time to place it and then leave. With Kinton being the only loose end, it will best to eliminate him and disappear.'**

Silence followed as Naruto attempted to steel his nerves to what he was about to do. Placing the key onto the seal, the door slid open to reveal the room that Naruto had come to call home. Though he never actually felt at home and here, that didn't change the fact that he felt more at home here than at the orphanage.

Glancing around the room, Naruto's eyes came to rest on Kinton's sleeping form. In one swift motion, Naruto approached Kinton and plunged a kunai into his throat. Kurama was shocked and a little worried that Naruto had none that so easily, but being able to read his thoughts, Kurama was relieved to find Naruto in turmoil at what he had just done. On the outside Naruto just stood there, stock still as blood sprayed all him, the bed and Kinton's body. His eyes blank as he just stared at the wound he had inflicted on the completely defenseless man. He found he couldn't get Kinton's voice out of his head. He listened over and over as Kinton's voice went through his five rules. '_One: The world is not a nice play, there is no such thing as honor or fair play. Two: Always hide in plain sight. Three: Don't trust anyone. Four: Power is worthless unless you have something to use it for. Don't just take power for the sake of power. Five: NEVER, underestimate an opponent. Even a Kage can fall to a mere kunai.'_ The ghost's voice echoed through Naruto's mind.

While he may have not been trust worthy, Kinton had done an excellent job training Naruto. Over the last five years we had developed Naruto's natural talent at sneaking around. Because of Kurama being inside of him Naruto had an innate ability to move around silently and undetected. Using this natural talent, Kinton had trained Naruto and had him gain infiltration experience by having him steal copies of top secret documents from the Hokage tower and ANBU headquarters at night. Though he was caught on the first few occasions, but escaped without being identified. By now though Naruto had developed his abilities to the point of having acquired a large amount of copies of Konoha documents and village secrets.

But now, all Naruto could think about was the blood flow that was beginning to wane. In his head, Kinton's words were still echoing through his head. Seeing how distraught he was, Kurama pulled Naruto into his Mindscape.

As Naruto opened his eyes, he found himself in Kurama's forest in the embrace of Kurama's tails. Finally feeling safe and comfortable, Naruto broke down sobbing into Kurama's soft tails. Slowly rocking him, Kurama just watched and listened until, Naruto finally drifted off to sleep.

Sighing to himself, Kurama felt sorry that he had had to make Naruto do such a thing. Putting his own head down. He joined the blond boy in the land of dreams.

Waking up the next morning, Naruto slowly opened his eyes, only to find himself lying in a pool of Kinton's blood. The smell of the sticky red liquid penetrated his nostrils and he recoiled. Using his arms to support himself, Naruto rose to his knees and looked up with a blank expression on his face.

Disturbed by the fact that his mind was as blank as his eyes, Kurama spoke up, "**Kit, grab one of the henge seals from Kinton and head to the hot springs. You need to relax."** Without a word in responds, Naruto did as he was instructed and made his way to the hot springs in the disguise of a middle aged browned haired man, where he proceeded to spend the whole day, only returning to the house after the sun began setting.

Once he entered though the secret door, he let out a sigh, 'I think I'm feeling better Kurama. Though, we are leaving tomorrow.' Naruto though as he made his way over to Kinton's body. Quickly, he ran through hand seals and unleashed a stream on fire on Kinton's body until it was nothing but a pile of ashes. Ignoring the horrid smell. He began walking over to the chests in the back of the room, but was startled when suddenly something fell of his face, and he found himself being able to see out of his left eye. Confused he looked down to see his eye patch lying on the floor. Eyelids flying up, he rushed to the mirror and looked at his reflection. Inside his head, Kurama sounded like he was choking on his own tongue as he looked at the what now occupied Naruto's left eye socket, the sharingon, but not any sharingon, this on was different, "**Man… Mangekyo Sh… Sharingon."**

Hearing this Naruto's eyes widened even further. 'How did this happen Otosan?'

**"I have no idea, I never knew you had such a thing. While I think about this, put that eye patch back on and look through those chests to see what you can find."** Kurama ordered. While Naruto made his way over to the chests while his eyepatch back in place, Kurama, became lost in his thoughts, but was quickly brought out of his musing when he heard a cry of joy from Naruto. Quickly reapplying his attention to Naruto, he found the boy looking in the first chest which had a complete set of Shinobi gear. Now, excited to see what was in the other chests, Naruto opened the next one to find it half full of stacks of money. His eyes went wide and a huge smile grew on his face. Somewhere in the background Kurama could have sworn he heard a light '_CH-CHING'_ but shrugged it off. What caught Kurama's attention was the three scrolls that sat amongst piles of money. Naruto, Also noting his reached for the three small scrolls. All three were marked with a number, so following them in said order, he open the first scroll and began reading it.

_Naruto, _

_I am sorry that I am unable to continue protecting you. I am ANBU weasel. I am leaving you with this Kinton fellow in hopes that he will be able to help you survive in this village. I pray that you don't hate the village to much, I have given my life to protect this village and will continue to do so, so I pray that you don't hold to much of a grudge for then we will be on opposing teams. I have left you a few gift in order to help you progress and become a powerful ninja, the most important of which is the Mangekyo Sharingon of my friend Shisui. Take care and carry your burden with pride, know in your mind that you are an unrecognized hero that continues to protect the village of Konoha from the awesome power of the Kyubi no Kitsune._

_Goodbye and Goodluck,_

_Uchiha Itachi_

Beneath the writing, was three small storage seals, that when opened yielded three four pronged keys.

After reading that scroll, both Naruto and Kurama couldn't help but smile. For Naruto, it was good to know that there was someone out there who cared about him and had gone out of his way to help him, while Kurama, was happy that there were people that did consider the boy a hero, even in Kurama wasn't really a monster as everyone said. Going onto the next scroll, Naruto found it to be a detailed scroll of the sharingon, its abilities and weaknesses, along with a list of jutsus, utilizing it. It also explained the mangekyo sharingon. Opening the last scroll, Naruto was shocked at its content. There was put a single picture on the Yondaime and a very pretty and pregnant red-head. A little confused, he opened the scroll a little farther and found but three words, '_Your family photo'_.

As the weight of what he was looking at hit him, Naruto found himself slumped down on his knees crying again. But not in sorrow, as he had earlier. No, now he was happy. He knew who his family was! With a smile on his face he hung the photo of him and his parents, while he may not be born yet, that didn't matter, this still counted every bit in his mind.

In his mind, the Kyubi was dumbfound. The very man that had sealed him away was the father of the young blond. But seeing how happy Naruto was, he couldn't help but smile a fox grin at the enthusiasm his container was showing.

Naruto, having finally over come his tears had replaced all three of these scrolls in the second chest, and made his way over to the next, which after a frustrating five minutes got open with one of the keys. Upon opening it, Naruto was met with a large scroll. It was about three feet long. On either end, about three inches was a gold strip that went around the scroll. In between these gold strips was a large crouching black fox. Again, for the second time tonight, Naruto was confused and Kurama was awestruck, "**That's thee fox summoning contract!"** Kurama exclaimed in disbelief.

Not really understanding its significance, Naruto was excited by this gift, 'Cool! Can I sign it? Please Otosan?'

"**I'm not sure Naruto, this contract hasn't been seen in a hundred years. Last time I checked, the fox clan had suffered a large catastrophe and was wiped out. We can figure that out later, for now, go on to the next chest.**"

Slightly disappointed, Naruto listened to Kurama and went on to the next chest, which also frustrated him yet again, but went it did pop open, he was met with a katana. Lifting it out of the chest, Naruto stared ion wonder at the beautiful black sheath that shone brightly in the light. The handle was also a midnight black, though it was wrapped in a intertwining blood red cloth. Drawing it from it sheath, Naruto was met with a blade that seemed to be soaked red by the blood of it enemies. It to shone in the light. It's beauty was surreal and Naruto found himself staring at it as he turned it through the air and watched as the light bounced of it at every delicate curve and angle. It blade was about twenty-five inches long. Right above the hilt, carved into the sword was it's name in kanji's, Demon Breath.

"**Pump some chakra into it." **Kurama instructed. Naruto obeyed, but he dropped the blade when it burst into black flames. As soon as it clattered to the floor the flames dispersed and Naruto was met with the blade just sitting there. Picking it back up, Naruto tried again, but this times prepared for outburst of fire that licked the sword. Cutting of the flow of chakra, Naruto replaced it into its sheath as a wicked smile grew on his face.

'This thing it really cool. Kurama, you are going to need to teach me how to use it.' Naruto though which Kurama instantly agreed with. Placing it back in the chest, Naruto was experiencing a high right now, he was getting so many cool presents. He had never been given anything before so it was really exciting for him to be getting stuff. In a much more patient manner this time, Naruto open the last chest. As he flung the top open and stared at the contents, he instantly face faulted. Inside was a crudely drawn picture of Itachi sticking his tongue out saying the words "Just kidding!"

Inside his head, Kurama was rolling on the ground laughing at Naruto's expense. 'It's not funny!' declared Naruto.

"**Oh yes it is, you should have seen the look on your face. You were so excited to get something, but were completely let down. You looked hilarious. I mean really, Itachi already gave you some amazing stuff and yet you are so disappointed to not get one more." **Barked out Kurama between laughs.

'Ya, ya whatever. Lets do that seal now, I want to leave tomorrow.' Naruto declared. Entering a meditative position, with his legs crossed and eyes closed. Naruto entered his mindscape and made his way to Kurama's forest. Waiting at the gate was Kurama. Sitting before him was a new paper seal that they were going to use to replace the old one. Over the last five years, after leaning to read and write, Kurama began to teach Naruto about sealing, which, being a demon and having lived for thousands of years, he was quite efficient in. Also, being a demon, some of the seals he taught Naruto were demonic in design as could only be activated with demonic chakra, which Naruto had access to through Kurama. This new seal had a black fox head in the center. It was surrounded by a wavy circle and out of that came a dozen wavy rays, as if from a sun.

"**Are you ready to do this kit?"** Kurama asked with slight worry in his voice.

"Ahh, is someone getting attached to me?" Naruto asked with a voice that was dripping sarcasm.

Both smirked at each other as Kurama replied, "**Come now kit, you know I care about you. Now remember once you do this, there is no going back. The effects are completely permanent. Also once you release the real the is on right now, my chakra is going to begin seeping to you and its going to hurt like hell. You going to want to place the new seal on as quick as you can or you may lose consciousness and then die."**

Having been warned before Naruto shrugged it off. "Come now Otosan, I can handle three of your tails so far, I'm sure I'll be able to place the new seal before I faint. Though I'm sure you are right, this IS going to hurt like hell." With a grin, he finished, "Lets do this!"

Taking the new seal, Naruto went outside the gate and waited while the seal on the gate dropped down to his level. Taking a deep breath. Naruto reached out and Tear the seal off as if it was a bandage. Reaching up with his other hand, he was about to place the other seal in place, when he let out a scream as pain began coursing through his body. Slowly, fighting the pain that was emanating through his body, Naruto pressed on as he pushed the seal forward. Just as his vision was going black around the edges, he placed the seal on the gate. The seal lit up in a blue hue, but abruptly changed to red, and when Naruto thought the pain was going to stop, he was forced out of his mind was it increased ten fold. As he opened his eyes in the real world, his body felt numb for a second, but that was for but a second, as that numb feeling was replaced when red chakra exploded from his body and surrounded him in a shroud. The pain was back in a flash and with it came his screams of agony. Naruto could literally feel his body being changed by the chakra, and as his body grew and inch, it would hurt, before it was healed and the process repeated. In his agony, Naruto lost track of time, as his skin was on fire, his muscles ached, and he felt like he had the worst migraine ever. Kurama could only watch as Naruto withered on the floor.

After what felt like it could have been days, the red chakra receded back into his back. Naruto was left whimpering on the floor as, until finally passing out. But instead of arriving in his mindscape like he usually did, he fell into a black abyss and slept dreamlessly.

Opening up his eyes blue eyes and looking around. A man was left confused as he found himself in a forest. Sitting up, he found his wife in a similar state of waking up as him. When she too sat up, he spoke to her, "Kushina… is that you?"

"Minato? What, what's going on?" Kushina whispered as her head stopped spinning. With the help of her husband, Kushina was able to stand up. When she did reach her feet, she was pulled into an embrace by Minato, which she gladly returned.

After just standing there holding each other, the separated and examined there surroundings again. They stood in the middle of a huge forest. The trees were far bigger that any they had ever seen before. The flowers and shrubs also seemed supersized.

Taking Kushina's hand, Minato began making his way through the forest. As the walked in silence, it felt like they were going no where. They couldn't seem to find anything. As the hours pasted there confusion was still there. They weren't finding anything as they wondered through the forest for giants. As they continued on, Kushina spotted something off to their left. Tugging on Minato's hand, they began making their way through the woods towards what appeared to be water, though looking through the trees made it very difficult to tell what lay ahead of them. As they cleared the last of the trees, they found themselves in a huge clearing. To their right was a large lake with the sun reflecting off its still surface. A little to the left was a large house. As their confusion peaked, they almost had a heart attack as a new presence enter the clearing.

Looking down at them stood the Kyubi no Kitsune, in all its glory, though Minato couldn't help but think in was a little smaller than he remembered. Its nine tails swung freely behind it as it looked them over. Preparing themselves to fight, both Kushina and Minato was suddenly completely thrown off when the Kyubi simply shrugged and walked off. In front of the house, in curled up and seemed to go to sleep.

Minato and Kushina now had there heads spinning. The Kyubi was in front of them sleeping? What the heck is going on? Both thought in unison. Approaching cautiously, preparing themselves for any sort of trap, the duo stalked around the giant fox, when it spoke, "**What do you want mortals?**"

"You can talk?!" Minato blurted out without thinking. The fox opened his eyes and smirked.

"**Of course I can talk, I just often choose not to. Now have not answered my question. What do you want? Please don't waste my time, I have to be ready for my kit when he wakes. He is going to need my help.**" The Kyubi asked with a air of annoyance in his voice.

"Your kit? I didn't know you had a son? Wait, does that mean you escaped?" Kushina said, surprised that the demon that she had held inside of her had the time to have a child.

At this question, the Kyubi's smirk only grew, "**I don't, he's yours.**" The Kyubi informed them both. And he was not let down, as they both looked at him with a mix of emotions, ranging from fear to anger, but before they could try anything the Kyubi continued. "**I didn't do anything to him. It was the village that you both foolishly died protecting that you should be angry about. If you want to know what happened just look at him memories, you are in his mindscape right now. I think you will both be quite intrigued by what you find. Oh and my name is Kurama, I would prefer it if you would call my that.**" And with that, Kurama dropped his head back down and closed his eyes, leaving Kushina and Minato to ponder what they had been told. Kushina looked to Minato, who gave her a nod. With that they both delved into the memories of their son, and were horrified with what they found.

After hours of shifting through his head, from his earliest memories from around when he was two, to the pain he had gone through today with exchanging the seals, through all the attacks on his life and poor treatment he had been forced through for what they had done to him, they could be found crying into each other's shoulders at the life they had forced upon their son. Their family. Their legacy. So with the disappointment in themselves, they cried.

As they let there feeling out, the were interrupted, by the demon they lay across the grass right next to them. "**So I presume you didn't like what you saw?"** Kurama asked.

"How could they do that. Attack a child. I know they didn't like him because he is has you inside of him, but… but they mistreated him when he was completely defenseless. How could they push themselves to do such a thing. And how come no one is stopping them. Where is Hiruzen or Jiraiya, even Kakashi for that matter. Why is he all alone!" Kushina cried out through Minato's shoulder.

"**It is like you said, they only see me. To them they weren't attacking a small child, they were sticking it to a thousand year old demon with a clever disguise. Though, what did you expect, he would actually be seen as a hero. He never even received any of his inheritance. He was told that he had been abandoned by his parent because he was a demon, which he didn't even understand until he met me. Though that theory was disproved earlier tonight when he looked at Itachi's letter."**

"He knew found out we are his parents?" Minato asked in surprise, before going through the Naruto's memories again. Finding the one he was looking for, couldn't help but smile, when he saw how happy he was. Kushina too, saw this and broke out a small grin through her still spilling tears.

"**He is a very resilient boy and is going to be going out to see the world soon. This village has nothing for him but hate and painful memories." **Kurama stated with air of finality to it.

"I understand, I wish I could have been there for him, but I guess that isn't going to happen." Minato voiced with a strong presence of despair in it.

"**Well you can tell him you're sorry when he comes to. If the new see works properly you both with be here for a long time."** Kurama informed them. They both looked at him confused. But cutting them off from any questions, Kurama continued. "**The new seal we placed on him combines a lot of me with him. This seal we created on our own as since it has never actually been tried, the effects may vary. I is possible that is grants him far more of by power or he could become what could be considered a half demon. We will have to see when he comes to. What I do know is that since you are both trapped here, here you will stay unless he calls upon your chakra and uses it all up. That's one thing this seal does, it gives him access to all of our chakra. I am curious though, how are both of you here, last I checked I killed you both while being sealed in here."**

As the information on the seal was being received both Minato and Kushina were worried about what the effects of this new seal would be. But were confused when Kurama said that he had given Naruto access to all of his chakra. 'Why would the demon do something like that? Does this have something to do with him call Naruto his kit earlier?' Minato though as he listened to Kurama. When the fox came to the end of his little description and asked his question Minato spoke up, "I seal some of Kushina's and my chakra inside the seal incase I ever need to tighten it or Naruto ever needed help controlling you. Why are you helping him, and calling him you kit?"

"**Well unlike you I have been here for him. I have taught him when other wouldn't. the only people I know of that helped him were Itachi and Kinton, but Kinton had every intention of betraying him after he finished the job he was on for Orochimaru. I have taken care of him as best I could and taught him to survive. You know, stuff a parent does for their child."** Kurama said with a certain amount of venom in his voice. He obviously didn't approve of them. "**You are going to have to work from peg number one to get the right the to say you love him in my opinion. And know I will be watching over him. When he wakes up you may talk to him, but until then you will wait, if you want to talk or sleep or eat, go inside. Other than that just leave me alone. I need to get some rest also."** He finished in a very serious voice. And with that Kurama put his head down and drift back into his fox nap.

Minato and Kushina were stuck, by how he defended Naruto. As Kushina started crying again, Minato picked here up bridal style and walked towards the house. They too would need to get their rest in preparation for facing their son.

Pain, that's all Naruto remembered as he began to return to the world of the living. As he cracked his eyes open they were met with the soft glow of the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. He let out a groan as he felt his head splitting. Standing up and holding his head has if that would dispel his head ache, Naruto froze. His ears felt different. They were bigger, pointier and… fuzzy?

Walking over to face the mirror, Naruto almost lost consciousness again as stared at his new image. His hair was longer and now a mix between blond and red. He had a pair of red fox ears with black tips. His right eyes was now a deep violet, while his sharingon now, while still having the same design, also had the same violet color. Looking around, he found his eye patch and placed it over his sharingon. On either cheek, his whisker marks were now far more defined.

Overall he was now about six feet tall. All his remaining baby fat was now replace with smooth muscle. His clothes were all ripped and small on his now enlarged and muscular body. Feeling a pain right above his butt, he reached back and found that the rear area of his pants had a large bulge in them. Pulling his pants down, a four foot long, bushy red tail with black tip, shot out from his tail bone. Looking in curiosity, it suddenly twitched, startling him. Focusing harder on it, he could feel it, but wasn't able to get it to move more than a few inches side to side. His mind was just so unused to using that muscle, it couldn't get it to move.

Turning he head back to the mirror. Naruto couldn't help but smile at his new look. It was, in the words of his eight year old mind, "Awesome!" When he looked at his smile, it only grew bigger at he saw his new fangs glaring at him. 'Otosan look at my awesome new look!' Naruto shouted in his mind.

"**You look great Kit, much older. But you are going to need to learn to use that tail of yours."** Kurama replied with a grin. "**Now, you need to come in here. There is some important stuff we need to discuss.**" And so listening to Kurama's instructions, Naruto entered into a meditative position, and slipped into his mindscape.

Naruto was running through the woods on his way to the clearing. His new body was much faster and stronger. Even after he had turned up his resistance seals from three to five he was still going at speeds that far exceeded his own before applying the new seal. As he burst from the last of the trees, Naruto was stunned by what he found.

Instead of Kurama just waiting for him to arrive, there were now two new presences that he had only every seen in a picture last night. As he sat there stunned and taking in the sight of his parents, he wasn't sure how to act. His dad had been the one to seal a demon inside of him and ruin any chance of having a normal life. But he had done it as a noble sacrifice. It must have been difficult to not only sacrifice his own life, but also his son's life, right?

As Naruto pondered this Minato and Kushina were surprised by his new look. When they had been told by Kurama that Naruto was merging with the fox in a sense, they hadn't thought it was in a literal sense. If anything they thought it would be in a spiritual or chakra sense, but here was there son. And while both found him to be quite handsome it didn't change the fact that he now looked different.

Coming to a decision on what to do, Naruto pounced forward and covered the ground between himself and his dad in the blink of an eye. The only thing any of them, including Kurama could think was 'Fast!' And before Minato could react, Naruto had planted a fist in his stomach, surprising everyone, as Kurama and Kushina tensed up, but before anyone could react on this, Naruto proceeded to pull his father into a hug that Minato happily returned. Though he was slightly confused on why he had been nailed before the hug. As they stood there, at virtually the same height, a third person entered the family hug. Opening his left arm, Naruto allowed his mom to enter the hug before reapplying it to include her. Kurama just smiled off to the side at seeing his kit happy.

As she began sobbing against her husband and son, Kushina whispered the words that Naruto had been waiting to hear his whole life. "I love you." And with those three little words, the emotions that Naruto had been holding bad for the eight years he had been alive broke out and he began to cry his heart out. Someone loved him, his parents no less. They cared for even if he was the container for a demon, that didn't matter to them, they loved him. And that, that meant the world to him.

After the waiting patiently for half an hour, Kurama was happy to see them finally finish up with their special family reunion. While he was happy that Naruto was so happy, that didn't change the fact that in was boring sitting their watching people cry. So as they broke of the embrace, Kurama spoke up, "**Well now that you all have gotten a moment to be in each other's company, I would like to remind you Kit that you wanted to leave today. While you are traveling, you will have plenty of time to chat with them, but for now, it would be nice if he could get going.**"

As he wiped the tears from his eyes Naruto nodded his head and disappeared out of thin air, which startled his parents. "Why did he go?" Kushina inquired.

"**Back to the real world. All you have to do to communicate with him is close your eyes for a few seconds and you will find yourself at his point of view. From there just start talking and he will be able to hear you.**" And with that Kurama laid down and closed his eyes. "**So what do you want to do first Kit?**" Kurama asked Naruto as he demonstrated to his parents. Walking over and sitting on the chairs on the porch. Minato and Kushina both closed there eyes, and after a few seconds found themselves looking through Naruto's eyes.

When Naruto came to, he stood up and loosened up his stiff muscles. "**So what do you want to do first Kit?"** Kurama asked.

Without even thinking about it, Naruto answered, 'New clothes first. I mean look at these things, I look like a beggar. Can't have that now can we.'

"**Good idea Kit, you know, you have plenty of money over there. And with one of Kinton's seals, you can shop wherever you want**." Kurama replied.

But before Naruto could agree, a new voice entered his head, "Hello? Hello? Am I doing this right?" Kushina asked.

"Yes Okasan." Naruto replied, but instantly regretted it, as he was met by a high pitch squeal and shouting.

"Did you hear that Minato, he called me Okasan!" Kushina shouted, before letting out another squeal.

"Yes, dear I heard him very clearly, though I am wondering, if you can the fox Otosan, what are you going to call me? Please don't call me Minato." The Yondaime begged.

'Don't worry, I already though this through. I'll call you Otosan and Kurama Otosama. Sorry Otosan, but I've been calling him that longer, so he gets sama.' Naruto replied. He was received by Kurama's laughing, Kushina's giggles, and Minato's just sighing. 'Anyways, like I said, clothes shopping it is.'

And with that Naruto started shifting through Kinton's seals. He needed to find one with the right body dimensions. Really all he needed was to get rid of his tail and ears, but he didn't want any chance of being caught. While searching for the one that would fit his needs, Kurama was busy explaining to the duo, as he called them, what the seals did.

"**It is basically a henge, but with out the need to use chakra making it far more difficult to detect. Also since it is solid, you can actually o everything you normally would in life without having to worry about it dispelling. Me and Naruto have been working on making them, but as of yet, have not succeeded." **Kurama explained.

When he did find one that would work, Naruto placed it on his chest and his complexion instantly changed to that of a young man with brown hair and eye. For some reason, whenever he used one of these seals, his sharingon would still be there, so he was forced to always wear his eye patch. Luckily, no one picked up on this. Though Minato was curious as to why his son was wearing an eye patch in the first place. Sure he had skimmed through his son's life, but it seemed that one day he had just had an eye patch on. Bouncing this around in his head, he decided he would ask when they left. Also, in order to cover up his shredded clothes, Naruto threw on one of Kinton's black trench coats and buttoned it up in the center.

Walking out onto the streets, Naruto was happy to not have people chasing his around and yelling at him. As he made his way into to a ninja clothing store, Minato popped his question, "Naruto, why is it that you have an eye patch."

"**I'll explain what we know, while you do your shopping Kit."**

'Thanks Otosama.' Naruto replied as he began searching for something that screamed bad-ass.

"**Ok, this is kind of a long explanation, but please let me get through the whole thing. Also, understand that a lot of what we know comes from top secret documents that Naruto would steal copies of as part of his stealth and infiltration training under Kinton. It one of the few good things that guy did. Anyways, under that eye patch is a sharingon, but not any sharingon, a mangekyo. On Naruto's third birthday, Itachi and a squad of ROOT ANBU attacked and slaughtered all but two of the Uchiha clan. The only ones that survived were Itachi's mother and younger brother. The reason they were killed is because they were planning a coup. Itachi was the government's spy in the clan. When secret negotiations broke down, Danzo ordered Itachi to kill the whole clan. Itachi agree, on the conditions that his mother and brother survive. So on that day, Itachi placed a genjutsu on the third that rendered him unconscious for the entire night, which is unfortunate as he wasn't able to save Naruto. He then went with the ROOT squad assigned to him and attack the Uchiha. The Uchiha, who didn't participate in the festival because they are believed to have taken part in my attack on the village, were all present but Itachi's mother and brother. They were all killed. The ROOT members apparently had secondary order to acquire the actual sharingon eyes from all the members that had them, though we could never find the purpose, but it seems Itachi stopped the Root member from collect all the eyes, as they only acquired around two dozen. Itachi proceeded to Go and find Kinton and gave him the task of watching over Naruto, which he grudged agreed to. Also, he left Naruto a few gifts for him to help, though Kinton had been planning on taking those for himself when he same night, he gave Naruto his eye, which apparently was from his friend Shisui. And that in why Naruto wears an eye patch." **Kurama finished.

Both of the duo were struck by the story. Not so much by the fact that he had a mangekyo sharingon, but the fact that almost the entire Uchiha family had been slaughtered. But before the could begin asking questions Naruto interrupted as he declared that he had finished his clothes shopping and so they redirected their attention to Naruto as he examined himself in a mirror.

Standing before them, though still disguised by the seal stood Naruto in a completely new look. He wore baggy black cargo that were absolutely covered in pockets. Around his waist was a black belt with a simple, yet dull silver rectangle buckle with a black star on it. For footwear, he had on a pare of black combat boots with steal toe protection. Covering the lower part of his face was a simple cloth mask, that Minato and Kushina couldn't help but be reminded of Kakashi as it seemed to be the exact same one. Wear wore a simple blood red tee-shirt. Over that he wore a haori like his father. The difference was that his was longs sleeved and black with no decals. Also, along the back there was a slit going down the center from right above his tail bone to, making it perfect for his currently disguised clothes.

Kurama was pleased with his look. It was quite bad-ass in his opinion while also be very practical. The many pockets would allow him to care everything he would need in scrolls and the black would make it good for hiding in the dark. Though Minato and Kushina were less pleased. While they did have to admit that he would look quite handsome in it, they felt in might be a little sinister and dark. But after a quick argument, Naruto made it quite clear that he had picked it out for those traits specifically. As being intimidating and easily blending into the night were advantage that he felt important. And so Naruto bought the clothes, though his parents were confused as to why he only got one set. The found out the moment Naruto got home.

When they arrived back at the house after a quick meal at a ramen. Naruto stripped, removed the seal from his chest, allowing his real looks to return, and got to work on his. The first thing he did was cut a slit in the back of his pant for his tail to hang freely. He was very careful to make sure that it wasn't to long as to show his boxers underneath. After this was accomplished, Naruto took the brush and ink from the sealing kit inside the ninja set and began placing repair, cleaning, and fire resistance seals on the inside of all the pieces of clothing. Minato was quite impressed with his abilities in seal, but once Kurama explained that he had began teaching Naruto the art from when he finished learning to read and write, along with the fact that Kurama was quite the expert, Minato understood. After that all four of them had fallen into a deep conversation on a few of their idea's for seals while Naruto finished placing them on his clothes.

This continued on until Naruto walked over to the chest and open the ones containing the fox summoning contract and Demon Breath. At which point his parents bombarded him with questions. "Where did you get these? You didn't steal them did you? Do you know how to use that? Have you signed that yet?"

Needless to say Naruto was quite overwhelmed by the sudden bombardment. But was saved from a head ache by Kurama's timely interruption. "**Silence. No, Naruto didn't steal either of these item. They were gifts from Itachi. We don't know how he acquired them, but he left them here for Naruto. He has not learned to use the katana and has not signed the contract. As for why he gave them to Naruto, I have no idea, but I don't believe it is something to be turned down. "**

'Thanks Otosama.' Naruto said when Kurama finished.

"**No problem Kit.**"

Naruto proceed to the sheath to the back of his shirt with a seal and under his haori. The handle stuck out right over his right shoulder allowing him easy access. With that he began sealing away the few thing he and Kinton had that would be useful to him while that chatted away in his head about his various skills, though it was pretty one sided on Kurama's part, while Naruto only answered a few questions here and there, while his parents curiosity was quelled.

"What have you trained him in so far other that Fuinjutsu?" Minato asked.

"**Well, the majority of his training so far has been physical training and filling his little head with knowledge. Kinton's one specialty was stealth and infiltration, and has been drilling Naruto on it for the last five year. In those areas he is top of the line. Other than that he is currently on the fifth level for resistance seals, though with his new body I think we will need to reevaluate that. We is incredibly fast as you saw when he hit you in his mindscape earlier. Also his stamina in legendary here in Konoha. As I'm sure you saw in his memories, he would out run ANBU squads on a daily basis. He had about chunin level chakra, but that has probably changed too. He can walk on walls and water with no problem, so I'd guess he has genin level control. As far a jutsus go he hasn't learned any, as most of what I've taught him has been foundational and theoretical. He has an extensive knowledge on the workings of the human body as well as top notch survival skills. About the only actual fighting skills he has are taijutsu. Which are easily low jonin thanks to his speed and stamina. On his own his strength was nothing special. Although, he has learned to enhance his speed and strength with chakra. Though with his new body his strength may be greater on its own. And that's a general over view of what he knows."**

"What is his elemental affiliation?" Minato asked.

"**Actually he has four very high affiliations**." Kurama answered.

"Four! How does he have four, that is unheard of! And for all of them to be high is insane!" Kushina exclaimed.

"**Well, if you let be explain how it happens, you would understand. You see, with me sealed inside of him he acquired my affiliations which are wind and fire. Then, he also inherited both of your primary affiliation, lightning and water. With me inside of him, all of his affiliations are boosted."** Kurama explained.

"Well, although that makes sense, that is still crazy." Minato observed.

"**That it is blonde, that it is." **Kurama replied.

'Finished sealing everything!' Naruto interjected. He had already placed another of henge seal on his chest in preparation to leave. He had sealed up all of the money, sealing kit, and weapons that included shuriken, kunai, paper bombs, and flash bombs. Also taking the scroll on the sharingon provided to him by Itachi. Taking the summoning contract, he had slung it behind his back in a style that reminded Minato of his sensei Jiraiya.

As he jumped onto the streets, and prepared to head toward the main gates to take his leave, Minato stopped him. "Before you go Naruto, there are a few thing that could be useful at our house. It is you inheritance."

'Really Otosan?! Cool, where is it? I really want to see where you and Okasan lived.' Naruto replied full-hearted. His enthusiasm brought all of them warm smiles and a few chuckles. While he may look like an adult now, he was still a kid on the inside. With that lingering in all there heads, Minato began directing him to there house. As they went, they entered into the rich housing district that was filled with the estates of the various clans and important families of Konoha. A few minutes after passing the Hyuga compound, a small house, at least when compared to the huge mansions that dotted the hills in this part of the village, came into view on their right, which Minato pointed out as theirs. Walking up to it, Naruto opened the blood seal that kept the house on lockdown. Entering, his senses were instantly assaulted by the dust that hung in the air from being uninhabited for so many years.

'So, what is it that would be helpful in here?' Naruto asked.

"Well first stop is the basement. Down there is the armory and jutsu library. Lots of good stuff. After that head up stared to my study. There is tons of sealing supplies and scrolls their. Finally in the storage room on the top floor in some basic stuff like sleeping bag and more storage scrolls, if you need them." Minato instructed. And that is just what Naruto did. It turned out he did need the extra scrolls. After sealing up thousands of kunai, shuriken, and three prong shuriken, which Minato had to promise to explain what it was for at a later date, they had already filled up half his pockets. Luckily, sealing up the hundreds of technique scrolls didn't take up as much space. Naruto's parents had collected quite the assortment of jutsus, and as they were all so well organized, it made everything so much easier. This left plenty of room to fill up on sealing supplies and survival equipment.

After an hour of filling pockets, Naruto finished with three pockets to spare. And so he left the house, but not after resealing it shut in order to avoid suspicion. Making his way to the from gates, Naruto headed out with out so much as a second look from security, which disappointed Minato and Kushina, at seeing how easy it was to get in and out of their home. After walking far enough to be out of side of the front gates. Naruto reached down and pulled off his seal that let his true self be shown to the word.

'What now?' Naruto asked.

**"Now you train, in a few year under our instruction you will be topnotch and ready to take on the world!"** Kurama declared.

Howling in agreement, Naruto jumped off and into the forest of the Land of Fire.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**_Two years later, Konoha Hokage Tower, Morning_**

'I'm getting to old for this.' The Sandaime thought to himself as he listened to yet another complain from Uchiha Mikoto. Ever since Sasuke had entered the Academy six years ago, his mother had been complaining that Sasuke had not been receiving enough special training. The worst parts were when she would bring it up during the counsel meetings. Thanks to being the only adult Uchiha she had taken her husband's seat and had continually call for the necessity of furthering Sasuke's training, as in her words he was, "The future of the Uchiha Clan and that if he was weak it would be a major blow to Konoha in general." And to make matters even worse for Hiruzen, the counsel agreed with her. They felt that the sharingan was to important of a bloodline to let go and by not making Sasuke more powerful and loyal to the village they could lose him. And so as much as he hated it, the Third was forced to grant special benefits to one person in his village. As Hiruzen zoned out of today's rant by Mikoto, he thought about how much he hated being the Hokage lately. There was so much paper work, be had to deal with all the complains, and the counsel continued to press its will upon him, even though they were only supposed to have a advisory role.

He was torn from his musing as Mikoto brought up something he had really hoped to never actually permit in Konoha, "Also, as Sasuke is getting older I have began looking around for possible wives for him in the future. Because he falls under the criteria of the Clan Restoration Act I feel that it is best to fight strong women to help him bring our clan back to its prestigious position."

"Very well, but remember that he cannot actually take any wives until h turns sixteen, and you cannot force anyone to marry him. They have to do it on their own will, or under an arranged marriage. Other than that, is there anything else you would like to talk about?" the elder Sarutobi asked as politely as he could manage.

"Yes, I have taught Sasuke all that I can, I want a private instructor for him so that he can continue advancing his skill." Mikoto demanded.

"And where do you mark his skills at right now? If you have taught him everything you know, then he must be quite powerful in his own right." The third inquired.

"Well, already has a fully developed sharingan as you know. His taijutsu is on par with many jonin when he uses it. Though he lacks experience with a variety of different opponents and styles. He is very proficient in his affiliations, fire and lightning. In a few years, I'm sure he'll have mastered them. Also his chakra supply in on chunin level. He already has all the graduation jutsus down. He has copied around a dozen techniques in each element. Also, just earlier this year he started on kenjutsu which he is becoming quite good with, though it will be many year before he masters it to any level. As you know he is top of his class and has quite a few friends. He could probably have graduated last year and been fine." She informed the Hokage.

"If he could have graduated already, then why didn't you push for him to do so?" Hiruzen asked.

"I want him to connect with others his age. If he had graduated early he would have been cut off from social interaction with his pears that he needs to develop. It is quite important in my opinion for him to have as many friends as possible." Said Mikoto.

For the first time in this conversation the Third smiled. He had to agree, it is very important to have friends and a life other that being a shinobi. Of all the thing his mother had done for him, Hiruzen felt that this was the best, though he felt the real reason that she didn't have him graduate early was because she didn't want him to be like Itachi, whom she feared and hated greatly. The Sandaime was worried that Sasuke was being conditioned by his mother to enact revenge for his clan from his brother, but worrying about that was still years away. "Well if you want him to have an instructor, he is going to have to graduate. His instructor will be jonin sensei. Until he graduates, you will have to be the one teaching him. While I have made many exceptions from the rules in order to help Sasuke get stronger, he will have to wait in order to have another shinobi instruct him and that is a final decision I will not budge on." Hiruzen spoke with an edge in his voice.

"But Hokage-sama, the benefits of giving Sasu…" she started to argue, only to be interrupted by the Hokage.

"I will not fight you on this point. You will either have him graduate now or wait until his class's time." Sarutobi said as he slammed the door on that conversation. "Now I have work to do, if you would be so kind as to leave I need to get on it."

Mikoto simply stood up with a little 'hmpf' and exited the room. As she walked into the hall, she was met by her son Sasuke who jumped up from his seat and grabbed her hand before leading her out of the tower. "Can we go back to sword practice Okasan?" Sasuke asked right away.

"Not yet, I have a few errands to run first." Mikoto replied.

"But Okasan, I wanna go home and train. Please?" he asked, as he tried to do puppy dog eyes. His mother couldn't help but giggle at his antics. He was just so darn cute.

"Ok Sasuke, I can run my errands later lets go." Mikoto gave in, but received a shout of joy from Sasuke who started dragging her along faster. She just smiled as she was dragged along.

Meanwhile back inside back in the Hokage's office, the Third was going over some reports. The one he was looking at currently was one about a new freelance shinobi that was starting to make a name for himself. He went by the name Kitsune and had been doing quite a few A and B rank missions and insanely cheap prices. And while this normally wouldn't be a problem, all of the mission he was taking would normally be done by Konoha. They had already lost a few big clients to his single rouge shinobi.

Right now Sarutobi was considering this report that gave a very interesting description of the man's physical appearance. Just three days ago, he had gone up against one of his squads that consisted of three low jonin. Konoha had been contracted to protect a single man on his way to a small village north of the village. On the way they had been confronted by Kitsune who claimed the man Konoha's squad was protecting had stolen a sacred scroll from another village and that he was here to return it. Needless to say, regardless of the situation the Konoha squad had to protect their clint and so that what they did, only to be brutally beaten by Kitsune, who only used taijutsu. While he didn't kill any of the shinobi, he did kill their client and steal a few of his possessions and escape. When the Konoha squad came to they made there way back and were quickly admitted to the hospital on their arrival. There, they gave their report to a chunin who had written it up for the hospitalized men and brought it to the Hokage. Now Hiruzen had to make a decision for which he had three options. One, he could label Kitsune as a criminal in the Bingo Book. If he was going to go with this option then he had to decide now because the Bingo Book for Konoha were being updated today. Two, he could try and contact Kitsune and get him to join the village. Three, he could do nothing. While the third option was attractive to him as it would require the least paper work, he knew that this was important enough to act on. So pulling out a piece of paper, he began writing up the page for Kitsune in the Bingo Book. When he finished he wasn't overly satisfied, as there was a define lack of information, but that couldn't be helped.

**Kitsune**

**Rank: A**

**Know to have fox like features including tail and ears. Wears blacks clothes and mask covering lower part of face. Yellow and red hair mix. Eye patch over left eye. No photo.**

**Ninjutsu: Unknown**

**Taijutsu: A**

**Genjutsu: Unknown**

**Kenjutsu: Unknown**

**Chakra Reserves: Unknown**

**Speed: A**

**Bloodline: Unkown**

**Notable Accomplishments: None**

**Wanted For: Attacking and injuring squad of Konoha Shinobi.**

**Bounty: 50,000 yen**

**Warning: Jonin and up engage.**

**Chunin and below flee.**

Having finished righting it up, calling in his secretary, he had her add the page to the other additions to the Bingo Book. Sighing, he noticed a two new presence outside his window, whom he immediately recognized. "Come in Jiraiya, Kakashi. What can I do for you two today?" the Third asked, but he already knew what they were here for.

"Has there been any report on what happened to Naruto?" Jiraiya asked his sensei.

With a sigh Hiruzen began explaining again, the situation, "Jiraiya, like I have told you, we don't have the time or resources, or even will for that matter to search for the boy. From when he stopped showing up around town two years ago, you know as well as I do that most people have been celebrating his supposed death. We can't go out and blab about his heritage either because that would cause distrust of the government. Very few of our shinobi would be willing to even look for him and that's only so that they could have the pleasure of killing him themselves."

"Then why didn't you let me take him when he was younger. You are the Hokage and yet you lat the counsel push you around. You even let them order me to not contact the boy in anyway shape or form even though you knew he was my godson." Jiraiya argued. He knew this wasn't going to go anywhere, but it made him feel better about his failure to his godson.

"You know as well as I do that my hands were tied on that. If I had given him to you, questions would have been asked and we would have had to indulge the populace with knowledge of his heritage. It would have been to dangerous for the boy, as his father's many enemy would have targeted him, and even you can't be by his side twenty-four seven." Sarutobi countered.

"Surely, though you could have at least assigned him some protection that wouldn't have been hateful towards him. There must have been someone." Kakashi said, adding his two-cents to the conversation.

"I couldn't do that. That would have been showing favoritism towards a citizen of Konoha and that I cannot do." Replied Hiruzen.

"Just like you do for Uchiha Sasuke?" Jiraiya returned. He knew it was a low blow, but felt the need to throw it out anyways. Jiraiya understood the situation with the counsel and that his sensei was getting to old for his job. 'He just doesn't have the energy he used to.' Jiraiya thought to himself.

"Yes, I have shown him favoritism, but it can't be helped. I'm not as young as I used to be. I can't keep this up forever. But I haven't come up with a worthy successor, unless you change your mind or you can get Tsunade to come back and take up the position. Please don't argue with on this you two, I feel just as guilty as you do, but their isn't anything I can do. Jiraiya, what is the latest reports from your spy network?" the Third finished as he returned to business talks.

Letting out a sigh, Jiraiya decided not to try fight his sensei anymore and began his report, "From what I have gathered, there is a new group out of mercenaries out there that have taken to doing the most difficult jobs at the lowest cost, effectively out bidding every village. They are all S rank missing-nin. Orochimaru was a member until recently when quit to go back to his experimenting. They could cause some economic hurt to all the villages if they expand to much. Also the reports about there being a new hidden village in the Land of Rice Fields are officially true. Though the location of the actual village and their leader are unknown. As from what I can tell, they are of no threat for the time being, but may try and expand in the future, which could cause some problems on a more international scale. Next, Iwa and Kumo are finally at full strength since the Third Shinobi War. Suna is still have difficulty and from what I can tell, only about at three quarters their prewar numbers, but they also seem to be working to quality over quantity, so it is difficult to decide their position. Kiri is still an unknown. I haven't been able to infiltrate their village because of the huge paranoia there. I believe they are isolated and will stay that way for a while now. Finally, Gato now has virtually complete control of Wave Country now. You know sensei, just the fact that you are participating in this, I have lost a lot of respect for you. I know the counsel is all for it, but couldn't you have done something to stop them, I mean what he is doing is just wrong." Jiraiya said ask he finished his report.

"Like I said Jiraiya, I am getting to old for this. The counsel wants to participate in the auction that will be taking place in a few years and also, with the decrease in mission we have been getting lately, Gato's protection money has been very helpful." Sarutobi urged.

"What is this auction you two are talking about?" Kakshi questioned.

"Gato has been buying bloodline users from Kiri. For the Mizukage it is a win-win situation, he can get rid of the bloodline users and make money while doing it. Gat began doing this from when the Bloodline wars started, so he has quite the collection. But not only that, in order to make even more money he has been breeding them in order to have more people to sell. And the actual sale is going to take place in a few years. We have already been asked to provide security for the even, in exchange for a single free first pick." The Third explained. Kakashi just stared at Sarutobi. While he did understand why Konoha was participating, he felt ashamed that they would be buying human being for the sake of breeding them. Jiraiya felt the same way, but being a shinobi of Konoha he couldn't do anything about it. "Okay, thank you for your report Jiraiya, keep up the good work. I just have one thing I would like you to look into for me. I just added a new entry into the Bingo Book for a man that goes by the name Kitsune. I need you to look into this man. He has been taking quite a few missions for a single man and we are starting to feel it, if only a little. If you could get on that it would be appreciated." Sarutobi finished and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. Both Jiraiya and Kakashi took the hint and jump out the window, leaving the old man to his paper work. With a sigh, he began.

**_One week later, Konoha Outpost twenty miles north of Konoha, Around one o'clock_**

A shadow moved through the small outpost. It was a two story building that sat upon a hill with a large observation tower. It had a garrison of two jonin and six chunin. Currently only two chunin on duty, but they were busy chatting in the kitchen and not paying attention to their surroundings.

As this shadow observed the relaxed shinobi, it spotted it's objective. Sitting of the counter behind the two chunin was a little black book. Casting a quick genjutsu over himself, The shadow disappeared. A few seconds later the book was gone with the chunin none the wiser. With that the figure disappeared from the outpost.

The next day around noon, Naruto could be found cooking three fish over a fire with his left hand, while reading a small black book in his right. The savory smell of cooked fish perforated through the camp sight and his tail swished back and forth slowly. Flicking from page to page Naruto was trying to find a mission that he could take that would be interesting to take on. Since he started taking missions about a year ago he had only taken missions where he would be fixing some wrong and downing the right thing. He had decided to use himself for to better society as best he could. While still spending most of his time training, he would take missions where people were in need of help.

As he turned another page, his fangs appeared as a fox grin appeared on his face. He was officially in the Bingo Book. While he had figured this would happen sooner or later, he had hoped it would be later. Shrugging it off, he placed the book down and began snacking of his fish lunch while consulting his tenants on his upcoming plans. 'So now that I'm a wanted criminal, I can either stay and risk being found out or leave.' He thought.

"**I vote traveling. I am getting bored of sticking to The Land of Fire. You completed your training last month, I think it's time to go."** Kurama spoke up.

'I agree, there is a whole world out their and I have but interacted with a small portion of it, I'm limiting myself so much.' Naruto concurred.

"As much as I wish you had been treated better and could be a shinobi of Konoha, I understand that that is not a possibility. After that, traveling does sound nice. I never got the opportunity to travel for leisure, it was always work, work, and more work. Though if you are going to be going around I still think that you should continue to do high rank jobs to keep your skills intact." Minato said.

"That's ok with me, just be careful, now that you are in the Bingo Book , hunter-nin and bounty hunters will he after you." Kushina added with a hint of worry in her voice. Though it may have been misplace due to the fact that Naruto was now easily one of the most powerful shinobi in the world. Since he had trained for two years straight with thousands of shadow clones everyday Naruto had acquired skills beyond compare to most others in the world. Also considering he was trained by the Kyubi, the most powerful of the nine demons, the fourth Hokage, the greatest shinobi of his time, and one of the last of the Uzumaki, one of the greatest clans of all time, you can bet that he made progress, especially when there were thousands of him. And to think he wasn't even in his teens yet, well mentally anyways. Kurama had explained that when they had mixed he had become immortal, at least in a limited sense. While he could live forever he could be killed in combat, though that's has considerable difficulties due to the fact that he regenerated so fast thanks to his incredible control of Kurama's chakra.

As he thought about his options, Naruto couldn't help but smile. He had so many of them. He had nothing holding him back, and with all the time in the world he could accomplish anything. With this in mind he decided to begin his traveling. Opening the Bingo Book to the very last page, he looked over the map to figure out where his first destination would be. Finding his location on the map he looked to the closed country and frowned slightly, Land of Rain. Last he had heard they were isolated due to some civil war stuff. Shrugging his shoulders he, began sealing this sleeping bag and other equipment up. Using a simply water jutsu, he gathered water from the air and put out the fire. Before leaving, he put his fingers together in the cross seal. Molding his chakra, he called out "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique." Around him one thousand shadow clones appeared, divided into groups and went to work on various different training exercises. Due to the fact that Naruto had huge supplies of Chakra, he had to have half his clones practice advance chakra control in order to maintain his high level of control.

Turning, the real Naruto began making his way through the trees on his way to the Land of Rain.

**_Three days later, Small village a few miles inside of Land of Rain, Afternoon_**

As he approached a small village, Naruto couldn't help but feel that this was a sad land. Since he had crossed the border, the had not seen the sun once. Clouds were an ever-present item here. Because of this and the fact that the place is call Land of Rain, Naruto had decided against sleeping out doors like he normally does. Hence why he was heading to the town. Around noon he had stopped at a small restaurant and had probably the spiciest food in the world. The curry was literally red and Naruto had trouble finishing it, though in the end he did to make the old lady that lived their happy. After that the old lady had given him direction to this mining town where she though a inn was and so Naruto was currently making his way down the road towards the village.

Upon entering the town and looking around, Naruto found that everyone seemed to be in a foul mood. As he began looking about for an inn, he felt himself receiving looks from the locals that he had not gotten since living in Konoha. Steeling his nerves, he walked up to a group of three men in black cloaks, "Excuse me, I'm looking for an inn where I can stay the night. Do you know where one is?" He asked the men politely.

They just looked at him with a funny look at then one of them stepped forward. "Of course, the inn is actually a little bit further out of town. If you come with us, we with show you the way." The man offered. Why Naruto was thinking about what the man had just said, he couldn't help but notice a smirk appear on the faces of the other two men. Tossing that aside for now, Naruto nodded his head and followed the men as they began leading him out of the town and towards the cliffs about a mile away.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya was making his way to Ame to try and find a lead on the new organization know as Akatsuki. His spy network ha picked up a pair of their members on making their way to Ame and had decided to investigate. But as of now, he was distracted by a certain fox tail shinobi. Had was in the same town as Naruto and had noticed him as he was making his way into the local whorehouse. Sighing to himself, he made the decision to come back after quickly investigating what Kitsune was up to the land of Rain. After about five minutes of following from a distance, Jiraiya felt a drop of water land on his shoulder. Looking up his face was immediately assaulted by a down pour that had picked up in seconds. Instantly regretting his decision to investigate, Jiraiya pressed on until his quarry disappeared over the chest of a hill. Hurrying, as to not fall behind, he came over the hill and was met by a the sight of a graveyard.

Horrifyingly a group of six men were carrying a casket from which screams were being produced. Horrified by the sight, but wanting to discover what was going on, Jiraiya hid himself with a genjutsu and watched from atop the cliffs that surrounded the box canyon.

As Naruto was walking with the men, he felt slightly uneasy as the rain began to fall. Before the downpour started, he had noticed that they were being follow, but unfortunately, the rain was making it impossible to keep track of his pursuer's movements. Keeping this in mind, Naruto walked over the top of a hill and instantly felt there was some sort of trap a foot. Before him was a large graveyard. A procession was currently making it's way towards an open grave. There were seven men in total, Six carrying a casket that had a large amount of screams coming from it, while the seventh was leading the procession.

The three men leading Naruto walked right up next to the empty grave and stod with there heads down. As the man leading the procession approached Naruto had noticed a oddity. The man seemed to be genuinely crying and mumbling about beautiful funerals. Not sure exactly what was going on, Naruto just stood back and watch. Slowly the funeral procession approached. The six men set the casket down beside the grave and took their places beside the three men that had taken them here. All of who now bowed there heads and stood their in silence.

As they stood there the only sounds that could be heard were the falling of rain and the screams for help, from inside the casket. Right when naruto was about to step forward and inquire as to what was going on, The leader of the procession step forward and began to speak, "Today we celebrate a beautiful funeral for this man. He has lived an honorable life and in fit to receive such an honor as this funeral. He shall always remember his happiness in life and the sacrifices he made. As his finally honor, let us Bury him and finish this beautiful funeral." The man finished. Naruto noted that it was probably the worst eulogy ever and wasn't very fitting of the man, though he was still confused as to why the man in the casket was alive. And so decided to let his curiosity speak.

"Excuse me, but is there a man who is clearly alive inside a casket? Are you practicing for an upcoming funeral or is this come cult thing?" He asked, but instantly regretted it as every head in attendance spanned around and glared at him.

The man how had just given his speech was the first to speak up, "Who is this man that would dare dishonor our beautiful funeral?" He asked the others in attendance.

Stepping forward, the man how had let Naruto here replied to the question given, "He is a foreigner who was looking for a place to stay the night. I figured that we would be able to find an adequate resting place here, Raiga-sama." The man said. Everyone in attendance, including Naruto caught the double meaning. Though Naruto was more occupied on the name given. Searching his memory, he found where he had heard the name before and cringed. If he was to get in a fight with one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri it would definitely be a good test of his abilities, but quite dangerous in the same respect.

As Naruto was mentally debating his best course of action in this situation, his decision was made for him by Raiga's next words, "Very well, kill him and then we shall have another beautiful funeral to honor his life." This was followed by a psychotic laugh. The men all turned on him and Naruto dropped into his taijutsu stance that Kurama had taught him. It utilized his tail in combination with quick attacks in order to speed past the defenses of opponents and through them off guard by adding an extra element being his tail. The man all threw off there cloaks in order to not restrict their movements. What was now facing Naruto was nothing more than a gang of thugs. On their hands thy all were wearing gloves that utilized retractable metal claws. Unsheathing these claws that charged Naruto in a mob, determined to overwhelm him with their numbers.

Waiting for the mob to reach him seemed like an eternity for Naruto. They were so slow and sloppy in their techniques that when they did arrive he simply ducked and dove through their blows. After a few frustrating minutes on the part of the mob, Naruto went on the offensive. Ducking under a clawed swipe from a man in front of him, Naruto swung a chakra enhanced fist into the man's stomach. It nailed him right of and senting him flying into the wall of the cliff that surrounded the graveyard. Before his opponents could recover from the shock of seeing one of there own being blasted to the other side of the canyon by a single punch, Naruto was upon them. Jumping between a pair of men, Naruto delivered a low swipe kick that knocked them off their feet and followed it up with a double punch to both their heads rendering them unconscious. Stepping to the side, Naruto dodged an attempt to stab him in the back, and dismissed this thug with a powerful punch to the back that sent him to join his friend in the face of the the last five, Naruto grabbed ducked a swipe from an opponent, grabbed his arm and began swinging him around as a meat club. Using this man as such, Naruto used his body to beat the last four men unconscious, before also throwing the man into the cliff face. Turning to Raiga, Naruto watched as the man removed his own cloak. Naruto noticed a large bundle on his back and was instantly curious about it when he didn't seem interested in removing before their fight. But Naruto's mind was quickly drawn off of this when the man drew out his swords, the _Kibas_. Bringing his hands together, Naruto cried release and instantly his resistance seals dropped from level eleven to zero. Drawing _Demon Breath _prepared to enter his toughest fight ever.

Taking the first move Raiga drew up both of his swords above his head and into an _X _and performed his first jutsu "Fangs of Lightning" he cried and instantly his swords began coursing with light chakra before shooting into the clouds above in the form of two fangs. After a few seconds the fangs faded away, but the clouds above them began swirling. In the whirlpool of clouds, the rain intensified and lightning was visible as it bounced around in the clouds. Bringing his swords back down, Raiga began to swing them and with each swing as thunderbolt would descend from the clouds and strike at Naruto. With his resistance seals now off, Naruto was able to evade the strike with ease. After one particularly quick dodge, Naruto vanished from sight and in a burst of speed appeared behind Raiga, though to Naruto's surprise, the man spun around and began a ferocious assault with his two swords. Again pumping with lightning chakra, Naruto was forced to bump wind chakra into his own blade to ward off the powerful blows from Raiga. Back flipping away, Naruto was forced on the defensive yet again as the man begun throwing lightning bolts at him from the clouds again. 'Damn, this guy must have a ton of control and chakra to be able to make this much lightning.' He thought to himself.'

"Actually, he is using hardly any chakra what so ever. When he charged up the clouds earlier, he was preparing them for use now. He isn't using lightning chakra, but actual lightning. All he has to do is direct it, which is what those seords are allowing him to do. They allow for you to do high level lightning attacks with very little chackra." Kushina explained to her son. With this in mind naruto knew he wasn't going to be able to wait for the guy to run out of chakra. Disappearing again in a burst of speed, he again appeared behind Raiga, but this time, his enhanced hearing was able to make a small voice from the bundle on Raiga's back shout out, "Raiga, behind you." To which Raiga reacted to instantly and began another brutal attack, this time being able to clip naruto's right shoulder and though the wound heal quickly, the lightning that entered his nervous system from the blow made his arm go numb and hang of to his side. Jumping back again, Naruto focused chakra into the seal on the inside of his eye patch. THe seal, allowed him to use the basic properties of the sharingan with it was still hidden uder the eye patch. It had taken all four of them a year and a half to produce a single seal that worked properly, and that was only because Naruto made a mistake while writing out the character. As of yet, they had been unable to reproduce the seal, though Naruto was determined to do so. The seal allowed him to see chakra, through genjutsus, and attack predictability. Now observing his opponent with his eye, he was able to make out a secondary chakra source coming from the bundle on Raiga's back. Seeing this, Naruto decided to take this fight up a notch and began running though hand signs for a pwerful attack. But before he could finish, it seemed Raiga had been able to know what he was doing and began summoning bolts of lightning down upon him again. Analyzing his fight so far, Naruto realized that Raiga seemed to know exactly which way he was going to dodge and the only reason he wasn't hit was because of his incredible speed. Desiding on a new approach, Why diving out of the way of a lightning bolt, Naruto sheathed his _Demon Breath_ and formed a cross seal and created six shadow clones. All seven of them quickly began circling Raiga, who was trying to hit everyone one of them. Naruto uickly realized that as long as Raiga had his thunder cloud, it was futile even attacking him. He was able to have an unlimited draw of natural lightning. Quickly making a plan, Naruto set it into action with his shadow clones. While four of the clones formed a square around Raiga, the other two, along with the original drew their katana and rushed Raiga. As the four began battling it out fith their swords, Naruto's shadow clones began running through hand seals. After all three of them ran through all twenty two seal they call out their technique, "Wind release: Great Vacuum!" Starting slowly, but speeding up as it went along, a funnel took shape around Raiga, the real Naruto and his two shadow clones. The funnel extended up to the clouds and began drawing them in. While drawing them in, the wind chakra dispersed the lightning rendering them not conductive.

Up on the cliffs Jiraiya watched the astounding display of control over the wind element. At the beginning of the fight, Jiraiya had performed an earth jutsu that gave him a little earth tent to sit under. In this dry environment, Jiraiya had begun taking extensive notes on both fighters. As his sensei had asked that he find out more about this Kitsune fellow, Jiraiya was now taking full advantage of this prime opportunity to acquire that information. Unfortunately, the clouds were being drawn into the wind vacuum baking the outside blackish-blue covering the battle from his sights. As he pondered what was going on inside the cloud vortex, he sensed four chakra signatures approaching on the other side of the graveyard. Seeing from there a black cloak with red clouds, Jiraiya instantly recognized that person as a member of Akatsuki. Seeing the other three in standard jonin uniforms from Ame, Jiraiya made the decision to take his leave. He already had completed two of his objectives, so there was no sense staying and possibly getting caught. Pocketing his notebook he released his earth tent and was once instantly soaked. Grumbling to himself he disappeared into the rain.

When her squad spotted a large thunderstorm occupying one point in space, Konan became intrigued as to what they would find. As they got closer, they were startled when a huge funnel began sucking in the clouds. When the finally arrived at the site of the funnel, all they could see was four identical men standing in a square around it, seemingly keeping the technique going. Konan watched in wonder and curiosity as blue flashes began appearing from inside the vortex.

Konan and her squad had been assigned a double mission. First, they were tocome to this small mining village and find out why the flow of gold from the mine had stopped and punish the populace accordingly to their god's will. Then they were off to Suna to perform an assassination mission for the Akatsuki. But here it appeared that there had been some sort of outside factors causing the disruption of the flow of gold to Ame and they would have to get to the bottom of it, along with killing off any intruders.

As they focused on the battle, they were surprised to see something that they had not seen in a very long time. The wind funnel had pulled all the clouds from within a few miles and left a bright blue sky revealed. The sun was visible as it descended towards the outer ring where there were still clouds. They could see that outside of their little sunny circle, it was still pouring rain. The members of the squad couldn't help but smile at the change in scenery, though they knew they would probably have to kill who ever it was that gave them this beautiful sight, they couldn't resist. Back now on the battle sight, they saw the four men, pop out of existence, proving that they were just clones. As they did so, they saw the vacuum also begin to waver, before dispersing all together.

Inside the vacuum, Raiga knew he was in trouble. The wind technique had effectively neutralized his lightning cloud, leaving him at a huge disadvantage. Also, the vacuum was applying a lot of pressure on his body, making it feel like gravity had increased three times over. He was having difficulty standing, at this point and his opponent was scoring blow after. Though each one, Ranmaru was giving him enough of his life force to heal it up. Letting out a deep growl, Raiga's resolved to finish this fight. He could not take many more hits or Ranmaru would be done for. Forcing chakra through his limbs to enhance his muscles, Raiga, following Ranmaru's instructions began to fight back. Quickly lunging forward, he could the opponent in front of him off guard and was able to defeat it, but when he slashed it across the chest, just poofed into smoke, signifing it was a clone. Turning, he engaged his two remain opponents.

Naruto was confused again. He had landed enough cuts and stabs to have killed the man by now. But all of them healed right away. The thing was that he didn't see any chakra doing it. He was brought out of his musing when Raiga suddenly lunged forward and destroyed one of his clones. Naruto, who's body was used to moved under large amounts of resistance didn't need to worry about using chakra to move about, but he saw hat his opponent did, and he had to use a lot of it. Smiling to himself, he knew he had the advantage. He just had to keep Raiga using chakra and he should tire very soon. As they reengaged in a two on one sword fight, Naruto was just biding his time. His clones had plenty of chakra, so he didn't have to worry about the vortex stopping. As the minutes passed Raiga's speed began to slow. Naruto just let him wear himself out and had his clone do most of the fighting. When Raiga finally stopped he was heaving from the exhaustion and starting to succumb to chakra loss.

Raiga's mind was running a hundred miles a hour. He was out of chakra and his opponent had yet to show any signs of tiring. His breathing hadn't even sped in frustration at the fact that he was going to die, Raiga was suddenly brought back to earth when his partner spoke. Ranmaru had been watching, and even though he tried all he could, Raiga was completely outmatched. If Ranmaru didn't do something soon, Raiga would die, and Ranmaru just couldn't let that happen. And so he spoke his last words to Raiga, "Raiga, I'm giving everything to you. Good luck I hope we can meet again." And before Raiga could stop him Ranmaru channeled the last of his chakra and life force into Raiga.

Raiga was horrified. His life partner Ranmaru had just given his everything and killed himself in the process. And though he felt his body being rejuvenated, he didn't pay attention. He was alone again. His only friend had just given his life for him. Raiga felt rage boil up inside of him. At that moment the man snapped. Any sanity left in his mind was gone as he now going to do everything he could two accomplish two things, go to meet Ranmaru again and give the two of them an absolutely beautiful funeral. Pulling all of hi remaining chakra into swords, he cried out his final words, "Lightening Release: Mighty Flash" and stabbed his swords into the ground.

Naruto watched with his sharingan as Raiga was bolstered at the cost of whoever was on his back. Naruto was disgusted that Riga would cast away another life to help try and ensure that his own when on. Distracted for that slight moment, Naruto was unable to stop Raiga from performing his last technique. When the swords cut into the earth, Raiga's body went limp, but before it reached the ground, it, along with Ranmaru's body disintegrated from the immense amount of energy released by the swords. Half a second later, Naruto's clone was destroyed, and the next half second, the technique reached the real him. The entire inside of the vortex was completely engulfed in blue lightning for a few second before dispersing. Naruto was left on his knees, as his nervous system began fixing itself after being scattered by the attack. Luckily, the distance between him and Raiga had made is so the attack wasn't very punishing. Standing up, he streched out his muscles and looked around. He had won. His first real high class opponent and he had won very easily. He wasn't tire in the slightest and he hadn't used very much chakra, thanks to his excellent control. Letting out a sigh of relief, he began walking over to the _Kibas_ to claim them as his prize. While walking to them, the created the cross, hand seal and a shadow clone popped into existence, before quickly poofing into smoke, letting the other four clone know that the battle was over. Sheathing _Demon Breath_, Naruto Picked up the to swords in his hands. Pumping some lightning chakra into them he was rewarded with bright sparks of blue lightning playing up and down the blades. His smile was apparently interrupted as he received the memories of the clones holding the vacuum. Apparently he was currently being watched. Turning to where the people where, we waited until the vortex finished calming down to see what awaited him.

A/N- If you can please tell me what you thought of the fight scene.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N- Naruto is going to be refered to as Kitsune for a few chapters.

Chapter 5

Standing before Kitsune was a four man squad of Ame ninja. The three men all had what looked to be a standard uniform, but the woman who looked to be in charge was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. All four had look of the utmost seriousness on their faces. 'Is she like their version of ANBU?' Kitsune thought without receiving a receiving a responds. Generally, his tenants would only respond if he was in danger, and right now, none of them were sure.

Deciding to initiate introductions, Kitsune staggered his feet slightly with the right in front of the left. He bowed the upper part of his body deeply and pointed his arms out to the sides. As he did so, he spoke, "Hello, my name is Kitsune. How may I be of assistance?" he inquired as he lifted his body back into a standing position. Shifting his weight onto his left leg, he crossed his arms, being careful not to cut himself with his new swords.

Konan opened her mouth and was about to speak, when she was beaten to it by the jonin directly to her right, "Are those the _Kibas_ you have there by chance?" he asked.

Tilting his head to the side slightly, Kitsune responded, "That they are. May I ask why you are interested, Aoi?"

"Well I happen to wield by own famous lightning based blade, and am always in the market for another." Aoi responded, "Though I am curious as to how you knew my name."

"Well you happen to have your own page in the Konoha Bingo Book. Quite interesting page. I find it funny that you claim to wield a famous blade that you only acquired through the ways of trickery."

"Well, we are shinobi. There is no such thing as honor. You just gotta do what you gotta do."

"I'll give you that. Now, I am sorry, but I have no interest in selling my swords to you."

"Oh you misunderstand, I was simply clarifying, so that when we kill you I could take them from your cold hands. Like I said, there is no such thing as honor. Konan-sama, may we kill him know?" Aoi asked, done with the chit chat, he was ready to spill blood.

"Yes Konan-san, may I kill this prick? I'm sure it'll be no loss to you." Kitsune asked.

"Enough, what is your business here in Land of Rain?" Konan asked in a no nonsense tone.

"I was simply out to travel the world and right now and visiting here. I was looking for a place to stay in the town a mile back, but some thugs brought be here and attacked me. If you need proof you can ask them, they're the guys sleeping around here." Kitsune answered while gesturing with his swords to the unconscious bodies of the thugs, that were scattered throughout the cemetery.

"I'm sorry, but you are not permitted to be here. You will have to leave or we with be obligated to kill you." Konon replies in an emotionless voice.

"I don't know, I don't like listening to other people. How about you let be go and we forget about this, hmm?" Kituse inquired.

"That is not an option, kill him." She ordered. The three shinobi around her jumped onto the cliff and slid down it to confront Kitsune. Stabbing the _Kiba's_ into the ground, Naruto drew _Demon Breath_. Disappearing in a burst of speed, Aoi and his two comrades were left dumbfound. Looking around frantically, Aoi felt his confidence waver slightly. Hearing flesh tearing, the spun around in time to see Kitsune disappear again, leaving the decapitated body of one of the other Ame jonin in his wake. Hearing the sound again he turned to see his other partner is a similar state. Now Aoi knew he was out classes. Spinning around, hoping that he wouldn't he next, he found Kitsune standing right where he had been from the beginning. The katana in his right hand was dripping blood that was pooling around his feet. But the next thing he did was not attack, but speak, "Aoi, now that those two are out of the way I challenge you to a duel on your honor as a swordsman. I know you said that you don't believe in honor, but its either that or ending up like those to. Now draw your blade and let up decide this."

Seeing this as his only opinion to possible survive, he pullout out _Raijin_ and activated it. Appearing from the handle, a yellow blade made purely of lightning formed. Giving it a here swings, Aoi tried to appear to know what he was doing, but to someone of Kitsune's caliber, it was quite obvious that this man merely stood behind the awesome power held by his blade. Taking a few swings of his own, Kitsune charged Aoi, though his time at a much lower speed. He wanted to toy with this man and see if he was as sorry of a man as he thought.

Bringing _Demon Breath _over his head, Kitsune brought in down in an exaggerated motion. Aoi was able to block the blow fairly easily, but when Kitsune went through a very basic series of attacks, Aoi began taking cuts and knicks everywhere. Bringing his arm back to try and get a hit of his own in, Aoi left his stomach wide open. Taking full advantage of the huge gap in defense, Kitsune burst forward and stabbed his katana right through Aoi's exposed stomach, while at the same time reaching up and catching Aoi's sword wielding wrist to stop any sort of attack reach him. As the katana was ripped from his stomach, Aoi's eyes went wide and he coughed up blood onto Kitsune's face. Not liking this, Kitsune backed away while still keeping his firm grasp on Aoi's wrist. Making a quick insertion across them man's neck, blood began to spill out of the wound. As Kitsune watched his mind was reminded of when he had killed Kinton in with the exact same cut. Letting out a sigh, Kitsune couldn't help but feel sad for all the blood he had spilled today. Realizing that he was now holding a corpse up, Kitsune grasped _Raijin _in his hand, he let Aoi fall to the ground. Sending a bit of chakra to his newest blade, the yellow blade pulled back into it's hilt which he proceeded to pocket, followed by sheathing him own blade, _Demon Breath_.

Walking back to the _Kibas_ he tucked one into either side of his belt. Turning back to Konan, Kitsune was slightly confused as to why she hadn't come to the assistance of her subordinates. As he looked at her cold, calculated face, he noticed with his sharingan that something was off with her chakra flow. In between her shoulder blades was a seal of some sorts that was drawing on her chakra to keep itself activated. Being a master of fuinjutsu, this quirked his curiosity. Vanishing in a burst of speed and appeared next to Konan a second later, causing her to jump back away from him.

After she had ordered her men to attack this foreigner, Konan's mind had drifted off, as she was completely confident that while he may be strong, he would be no match for a trio of jonin. So when he appeared next to her, she was quite startled, though she kept her calm, serious face up, as to not show this. As she looked him over she saw two things in his single violet eye, sadness and regret. This confused her. If he was as powerful as he had just show, how was he that affected by killing. But as she pondered her thoughts, he spoke up, ending her concentration, "I am just curious, why is it that you have a memory suppression seal on your back? Is it required for whatever organization you are part of?" he asked with what sounded like genuine curiosity. Tossing this aside, Konan was instead focusing on what he had said. She had a memory suppression seal on her back? 'No, that's not possible, I would have noticed, but yet, he did sounded completely serious when he had asked.'

Seeing that she was thinking something over, Kitsune elaborated on his point. Turning around, he pointed right in between his shoulder, "It's right here, I can feel it using your chakra, just enough to keep active, but not enough for you to notice."

Now Konan was very conflicted. She had a perfect opportunity to attack him. He wasn't looking at her, and she could hit him without him being able to react in time. But there lied the issue. He must know that also, so in allowing himself to enter that position he either meant what he was saying, was greatly underestimating him, or was very arrogant. Seeing as he had only treated her with respect so far and hadn't bragged at all throughout his fight, Konan was inclined to believe him. The other thing was something in the back of her mind seemed to be pushing her to believe him and see if there was anything he could do about it. What could be hidden from her past and by who? She was asking herself.

"By your silence, I assuming that you don't know that it is there. I can remove it if you wish. Though there was possible a good reason that some of your memory has been sealed way." Kitsune informed her, and yet she still remained silence. Sighing to himself, Kitsune just stood there and waited for her answer.

Finding that the simplest way to figure this all out, Konan reached over her right shoulder and pulled back her Akatsuki robe from which a single she of paper flew out and hovered right in front of her face. The piece that had been from the skin right in between her shoulders showed nothing but skin, but as Konan stared at it, she couldn't help but feel that there was something… off about the piece of parchment. Placing her left hand on the paper and closing her eyes, she whispered "release," which Kitsune was able to hear with his heightened sense of hearing, and disrupted her flow of chakra. Upon opening her eyes, she was confronted by the appearance of a seal. The seal showed a diamond in the center of which was a closed eye. Each corner of the diamond produced one tendril, all four of which swirled into a circle around the diamond. As she gazed upon the seal, she couldn't help but feel slightly afraid. 'Who could have placed this on me and what were they trying to hide? There aren't many people in the world that I trust. Three are dead, the Jiraiya-sensei left when I was little and the last in my god. Have I had it long enough that it was given to me by Jiraiya-sensei?' As these questions and other flew around her head, she unconsciously dropped her mask of seriousness. The stoic expression disappeared from her face and was replaced by one of uncertainty. 'Now that I know about this do I even want to know what is being held back from me? Was there a good reason as to why it was placed on me? Is it possible that I wanted to have it to forget something from my past? But that doesn't make sense, I can still remember my parents being killed, I can remember the death of Yahiko, I can remember all those people I have killed, sure I've done stuff that I'm not proud of, but what did I do or see that I would have wanted to forget? No there is something wrong her and I want to remember.' With her mind made up, Konan sent the piece of paper over to Kitsune who had stood there quietly waiting for her decision.

As Konan had been looking for the answer in her head, Kitsune had been racking his brain. He had read a restricted report somewhere on a person who had a bloodline allowed them to manipulate paper, but where had he read that report.

"**You know kit, if I remember correctly, it was one of the ROOT reports from the third shinobi war, when Ame was in a civil war. Danzo and his men helped capture a women with the ability to manipulate paper."**

"You know, now that you say that, I remember Jiraiya-sensei telling me about how he a group of students before me. They were all orphans and from Ame. And there was a girl named Konan who could manipulate paper. But I find It hard to believe that this woman is her, she seems a little young don't ya think." Minato added.

'Well I'm only ten, but I look like I'm in my twenties , we rally aren't the ones that should be judging.' Kitsune thought. Turning his attention back to Konan, and saw her expression falter, but stayed silent, respecting her right to think this over. After a minute, the piece of paper came floating over to him. Taking it in his hand, he examined the seal and smiled in his head. At was a petty basic seal and he would definitely be able to break it. Placing it on the ground, Kitsune took out an ink cup and brush and began writing kanji along the four corners of the diamond. After about five minutes of painstaking precise writing, Kitsune had finished with the four strips of kanji. Forming three quick hand signs, Naruto slammed his palm down on the seal and yelled out, "Diamond Mind Seal Release" and watched as the kanji were pulled into the seal that began glowing orange before fading away. Smiling at his success, Naruto looked up at Konan.

Konan had watched the whole process with detached interest. When he had finally finished and broken the seal, she had been unprepared for the assault on memories that. What she saw as he closed her eyes was death. Lots of it and everywhere. She shuddered as the memories filled her mind.

Kitsune started to worry when she started shaking. Her emotional mask was completely gone now and she was looked like she was about to completely snap.

As the last of the memories hit Konan, her mind began throbbing due to the sudden influx of memories. Going through her newly acquired information, Konan did something that she hadn't done in a decade, she started crying. The tears began flowing down her face and she began feeling weak in the knees. Collapsing forwards, her body slowly approached the ground, but she made no more to cushion herself as she tumbled forward. With her eyes now closed and tears streaming she prepared herself for the impact with the ground, but right when she thought she was going to make contact Konan felt two arms wrap around her body. The next thing she knew, she was pulled against a body. Cracking her eyes open, Konan caught Kitsune's single violet eye looking at her with concern, but Konan didn't want to believe it, why would he be concerned about her? He was probably just after something like he had been. She tried to pull away, but found the he wouldn't let her go. She could have just dispersed into paper and fled, but when he pulled her to him tighter, his warmth felt comforting. Closing her eyes again she just gave into her feelings of sorrow and just began crying into his shoulder. As she was crying, she almost choking on her own tongue when she felt a hand begin to pass through her hair and massage her scalp, meanwhile his other hand started doing circles on her back in a soothing manner. It felt really good, but for a second, she became suspicious of his intentions, but after a minute, he made no further advances, so he forwent her worries and just collapsed into his shoulder again full force and began crying without holding back. They just stood there, as she cried. After almost a half an hour, Kitsune felt her rhythmic breathing and realized that she was asleep. Crossing the hands behind her back, while still holding her up, he created a dozen shadow clones that instantly began going about their duties, while he went back to just holding her. He smiled to himself to a very sad manner. This was going to be interesting when she wakes up.

It was late at night and the Third was just finishing up his paperwork for the day. Just as he was pulling out the last report, there was a poof of smoke on his desk. When it cleared, there was a small orange and black toad with a blue vest. In his mouth was a scroll. Placing the scroll on the table, the toad spoke up, "Jiraiya said that you would want to see this. Something about that Kitsune guy."

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen quickly scooped up the scroll and began to read through the details of the battle that Jiraiya had witnessed. From the demonstration of impressive taijutsu to a use of massive high level wind techniques. But something that disturbed the Third was that Kitsune had used the shadow clone technique, which was only supposed to be know to Konoha, and was hidden away in the Scroll of sealing. That meant that he either had a connection to Konoha or had infiltrated it as some point. Sighing to himself, the Sandaime dismissed the toad with the wave of his hand. The toad took his dismissal and disappeared in a poof of smoke leaving the Third to start on the paper work he was going to have to go through to update Kitsune's section of the Bingo Book.

**Kitsune**

**Rank: A**

**Know to have fox like features including tail and ears. Wears blacks clothes and mask covering lower part of face. Yellow and red hair mix. Eye patch over left eye. No photo.**

**Ninjutsu: A**

**Strong wind affiliation. Able to perform multiple high end techniques at the same time.**

**Taijutsu: A**

**Genjutsu: Unknown**

**Kenjutsu: Unknown**

**Chakra Reserves: Jonin**

**Speed: A**

**Bloodline: Unknown**

**Notable Accomplishments:**

**Defeated Seven Swordsmen Member- Kurosuki Raiga**

**Wanted For: Attacking and injuring squad of Konoha Shinobi.**

**Theft of high level Konoha techniques.**

**Bounty: 100,000 yen**

**Warning: Jonin and up engage.**

**Chunin and below flee.**

Placing the new profile on the edge of his desk, he resolved to hand it in the morning. It wouldn't actually go into the new Bingo Book until the end of the month so there was no hurry. Standing up and pushing his chair in, the Third marched out of his room, happy to have the day done with, and quite ready to head to bed, he left the HokageTower with a smile on his face.

_BOOM!_

Konan's head came flying up as the boom of thunder rocked her head. She found herself breathing heavily. Whipping her head around, she came face to face with Kitsune and she held in a gasp, but took a second to observe him, she found him to be sleeping. His face no longer had the mask on the lower part of it, revealing three whisker like scars o each of his cheeks. He still had his arms around her. Lying her head back down on his chest, she tried desperately to control her breathing, but found that as she tried, she began shivering. Not exactly what was going on with herself, she thought back to the previous day, but instantly regretted it as the reclaimed images poured through her mind and she understood why she couldn't calm down. Tears threatened to brace her eyes once more as she felt everything she had stood for shattered into a million pieces with no way to reason her way through all her problems. Just as the first salty drops fell from her eyes, her breathing hitched at a hand began stroking her short blue hair. Looking up from the shoulder her face was nestled into, she was met with that single concerned violet eye once more. As she looked onto his face, he offered a single small smile that seemed to speak to her even though he said no actual words. '_It's all right_' echoed through her mind. As she gazed into that violet eye, she saw far more underneath the outward concern. There seemed to be understanding and compassion. And yet this is the man she had watched ruthlessly kill just yesterday, but her he was comporting her. Not understanding it, she just went with it and began to cry into his chest.

Kitsune felt sorry for her. She had seen something that she didn't want to. 'I really should have warned her as to the affects of eliminating that seal, I'd don't think she really understood the consequences.'

"**Don't think to much about it kit. I am curious though, who are you being nice to her, she could kill you right now. She gave the orders to do so yesterday, why aren't you wary of her at all?**" Kurama asked.

The small smile that had adorned his face just seconds ago fell, 'When I looked into her eyes earlier, I saw betrayal and loneliness. When ever I used to feel those emotions and would cry to the world I would have given anything to have someone there to hold me. I wouldn't have cared if it was a complete stranger, just as long and I could think that there was someone else who was there for me when it seemed my world was falling apart. So when I saw her faltering, I wanted to give her the one thing I never had I moments of weakness.' Kitsune explained. In his head, both his parents dropped their heads in shame. That was supposed to be their jobs as parents. They should have been there for their son, but they had picked the village over him and that same village had tried to destroy what they had left behind. It was one thing to give your life for something, but its completely different giving the life of your child. But through their feelings of regret Minato and Kushina couldn't help feel proud of how their son did turn out and was now putting himself towards better the world in his own way. He could have become bitter and wanted revenge, but instead he was kind and strong through it all and is willing to show it, to those who need it.

Sighing to himself, Kitsune looked out the entrance of the cave Konan and him currently were residing in. It was storming again. Rain peppered the ground just outside of the mouth of the cave and had long since turned it to mud. Looking at the fire that lay smoldering in the center of the room, Kitsune notice that it seemed to be in need of a little more wood. Creating a seal behind Konan's back, he created a shadow clone. It silently made its way over to the fire and added a little more wood. Next it picked up a scroll from that sat beside the four swords that leaned against the wall opposite the entrance and opened it up. Looking through the options for breakfast, the clone opted for unsealing what lay behind the second and third seals. Out of the second popped into existence four small fish tied up by their tail and from the third came a bundle of apples. Picking up two sticks from the pile of wood, the clone stuck two fish on each. Thrusting the sticks into the ground at an angle that allowed the fish to cook over the fire, the clone walked outside and picked up the bucket that had been left out to collect rain water and brought it inside. Using the water to fill up half a dozen canteens, the clone proceeded to seal them away and went back to the fish. Turning them over and adding some salt, the clone smile at his work and poofed out of existence.

Smiling to himself as the memories of the clone reached him, Kitsune just waited for the fish to finish cooking. After about five minutes, Kitsune figured that the aroma that now perforated throughout the cave was smelling quite irresistible. Lifting Konan up, he carried her over and seated her next to the fire. She didn't seem to notice the move until Kitsune released her from his grip. When he did, she opened her eyes and quickly searched for him, only to find him tending to the fish over the fire. While she was no longer crying, her eyes were still watery and threatened to start up again at a moments notice. She watched intently as Kitsune finished preparing the fish and handed her a stick and apple. Taking them she began eating, but never took her eyes off of his person. Plopping down next to her, he began eating his own food quite ravenously.

They both just sat their eating. They hadn't spoken since yesterday and it was starting to unnerve Konan. Looking into his eye Konan spoke the biggest question that had been on her mind since she had felt him holding her yesterday, "Why are you being kind to me?" she asked, but her voice was raspy and her speech filled with stutters.

Kitsune let out a sigh and looked down at the ground. It that moment he too let down his emotional mask as Konan was shocked at what she saw. The eye seemed to speak for him. The spoke of pain and loneliness. Hatred and betrayal. And yet they seemed so young, there seemed to still be an innocence there at she couldn't understand. This guy seemed to be in his twenties at least and she had watched him kill, how could there be any innocence n his soul?

"I saw in your eyes the same feeling that I have, but I never had anyone to be there for me. I wanted to give you the comfort that I never had, to be able to show you that I was there, even though you don't know me. It is what I had always wanted and so I wanted to give it to someone who understood what I went through." Kitsune whispered. His voice betraying his emotions. He didn't seem to be trying to find anything and that touched Konan. It had been years since anyone had done anything nice to her and yet here was someone she didn't know that was doing it for the sake of doing the right thing. Though as she looked into his eyes, they appeared to be somewhere faraway. Living through whatever it was that had happened to him. By helping her he was living through his own pains, but that didn't matter to him, he was more worried about her.

Feeling the need to return the favor, she reached out and embraced him. As her arms reached around his neck, Kitsune's head flew up and was etched with surprise, but when their eyes connected, it softened and he let out a little smile that seemed to say '_Thank you_' to which she smiled back to which she surprised herself, she hadn't honestly smiled in so long. She had been hiding behind her pain and that had all broken down yesterday. And so that's how they stayed for hours on end. Holding each other.

Throughout this time, Konan's mind was set on what she wanted to do. After what she had remembered, she refused to go back to Ame. It was all a illusion that she had been living with. She wanted to go with Kitsune, but would he let her. And what would happen when Nagato found out that she had left him. He had been devastated when Yahiko had died, what would he do if she left him as well? He had been getting more and more distant lately, did he even care about her anymore? Based on what she remembered, she wasn't nearly as important as the future of world peace. Sighing to herself, she looked up at Kitsune again. His eye was closed, but he seemed to know that she was looking at him for he open it and looked back at her. As he spoke, his hand stopped petting her hair much to her disappointment. She enjoyed the contact and it felt quite good. "Yes Konan?" he asked politely.

After a moment of putting her thought together, she steeled herself and asked him, "Can I come with you?" Her voice seemed to almost be pleading. Though Kitsune was a little startled by the request and it showed on his face.

"Why do you want to come with me?" He asked, still a little shocked. No one had ever wanted to be with him before.

"I… I don't want to go back to Ame. And I don't have anywhere to go, and…" silence ensued as she wanted to so this last part but was having trouble getting it out. As emotions jumped about her mind, she began crying again, and Kitsune pulled her closer. "I don't want to be alone." She whispered. And began weeping into his clothes for the third time.

Kitsune just looked down at her and smiled his sad smile once more and whispered into her ear, "Oh course you can come with me. You don't have to be alone anymore"

Looking up into his eyes, she smiled again at his declaration, before returning her head to his chest.

An hour later, Kitsune looked down at found Konan to be sleeping soundly as she used his chest as a pillow. She seemed so much calmer tonight over the previous time she had sleep on him. Leaning his own he back, he to drifted of to sleep, where he went to his mindscape and entered into another lesson from his parents. This was one of the more awkward conversations they had called the 'Birds and the Bees.'

The next morning, light shown through the entrance of the cave and flashed across Konan's eyes. Opening them, Konan fell light and happy waking up. Today she would get to start a new adventure with a new friend. Sitting up, she looked around the cave, to find it empty. The swords and scrolls that had previously sat along the walls were all gone. The fire was but a pile of embers that sat simmering, obviously unkept. Finding herself alone, her mood instantly changed. Her face darkened. Bolting out the entrance of the cave, she desperately began searching in the near vicinity of the cave for her new companion, but as she looked, she couldn't help but think that she had already been abandoned, had he already left her? As she searched, she burst through a some trees and came to a stream where she instantly stopped.

There in the center of the stream was Kitsune, bathing and looking right at her. The look of fear that had been present on her face changed to one of embarrassment as she stared at Kitsune's muscular body. Saving the awkward situation partially was the fact that only the top half of his body was actually visible, but even so, Konan's face heated up and she quickly turned around and walked away.

Meanwhile Kitsune just watched her go was he tried to deduce what he had just seen. He wasn't worried about the fact that Konan had seemed him without his shirt on, that wasn't a big deal, what he was worried about was the frantic look on her face when she first came barging through the woods.

'And I thought we were under attack for a second.' He thought.

"**You know kit, you probably worried her when you cleaned up and came out her for a bath. She might not have taken it well to have woken up alone and with all your stuff gone.**" Kurama commented. As he did so, Kitsune's eyes went wide as he thought about what he just said. It made sense. Sighing to himself he realized he would have to be more careful in the future. He began finishing up his bath and getting dressed.

When he returned back to camp in his full dress, he found Konan twitting her fingers. Walking up to her, he gave her a hug and say good morning. Konan was startled out of her hand games and thoughts. After a few seconds, she returned the embrace and replied in kind. It was at this moment she realized how much shorter she was than him. He could place his chin on top of her head without having to stand on his toes. She smile as she thought about this. It was just an innocent thought, but it was something new that she had learned about her new companion.

Thinking about him, she was kind of ashamed that she had assumed that he had abandoned her. He had told her that she wouldn't have to be lonely anymore, but deep down when she was honest with herself she didn't completely trust him to keep his word. Letting out a sigh, she disengaged him and said, "Sorry about that. I was just wondering where you were."

"Its ok, and don't worry so much, I'll stick around, and if I'm going to go off and do something, I make sure to tell you, ok?" He replied.

"Ok," she returned, "so where are we going?"

"That's an excellent question. I was just planning on travelling and see the sights around the world. Doing missions here and there, and just enjoying myself. What was the mission you and your team was on?" Kitsune asked.

"Well we were supposed to investigate a disturbance here and then head to Suna to get information from the Kazekage about an assassination mission."

"Why would Suna hire another village to perform a mission for them."

"Well, they actually hired an organization that is based in Ame, that I was a part of. We went by Akatsuki and did high rank missions for little money. Our record was impeccable." Konan explained.

"Ah, so that's why you are wearing that robe." Kitsune observed.

Konan looked over herself and the robe the that she wore. At much as she hated it, she was going to have to get rid of it, "Ya, it was the symbol of our organization. We originally started it to fight for the freedom of Ame from tyranny, but that didn't exactly work out." She explained, but as she did so, a sad expression came over her face.

Not wanting to push her to talk about something that was obviously a sore spot, Kitsune changed the subject, "Well why don't we head out to Suna and see about this assassination mission. I am out to make a name for myself, but I won't be doing anything unless I deem it just."

"Okay, to Suna." Konan agreed.

And with that they headed out and a brisk walk. While they were going, Kitsune told Konan about his fight with Raiga before her and her team showed up and what he did why she was asleep after just having the memory seal removed.

Konan told him about some of the happier times in her life. She told some stories about when Yahiko, Nagato and her were living with Jiraiya. She told some stories about there miss adventures and some of the odd things that Jiraiya had made them do. Kitsune was content with listening to her. As she was talking about the 'good times' her amber eyes were bright and seemed to shine. Unfortunately, as the stories went on that glowed started to dim as she remembered what had happened between her and the other two later. She got choked up in the middle of one of her stories. Seeing this, Kitsune quickly took over and told her stories about some of his missions that he had done. He elaborated on the people he had helped and the deeds he had done. She looked on in admiration and for a few hours as she listened, she was able to forget about her past and just focus on him. He made her smile and laugh and Konan therally enjoyed spending the time with him.

About an hour after the sun set, they came to the edge of the desert. Konan was feeling tired from walking all day, but Kitsune pushed the subject of continuing then, when the sun was down and it wasn't drop dead hot out. Seeing his logic, they continued, though Kona started to have some problems continuing. The emotional trauma from the previous day was still weighing down on her, and after another few hours, she began to stumble a bit as they walked. Seeing this, Kitsune turned to her and scooped her up. She tried to protest, but he would hear none of it. Carrying her bridal style, Kitsune and Konan continued in silence, as Konan tried to fight off sleep. Eventually though, it became to much for her and she lost herself to the land the dreamers. Looking down at her, Kitsune just smiled to himself as she snuggled into his arms. She was like a little kid. Shaking his head, Kitsune continued on into the night.

A/N- I will explain what happened to Konan in later chapters. Please review, I would appreciate feedback.


End file.
